幽霊の復讐: Yuurei no Fukushuu
by Serene Fairy
Summary: When the ghost of a murdered St. Ishiyama student is haunting both Ishiyama and St. Ishiyama, Yumi, Shizuka, and Izuma join forces with Oga, Furuichi, Hilda, Hecadoth, and Quetzalcoatl to solve the mystery behind the girl's sudden and violent death, and avenge her so she can find peace.
1. Chapter 1

**Good evening, everyone! I know I said that I would try to get this story out during the Christmas holidays, but I couldn't stop myself from uploading the first chapter. Also, the title of this story means 'Ghostly Vengeance'. This story is going to be a little different from my previous ones, since it's my first attempt at writing horror. One of my main inspirations for this story is Guillermo del Toro's film "The Devil's Backbone", which I highly recommend. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the first chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1- A Ghost Story**

"Morning, Yumi," Shizuka greets me as I sit down in my desk. "How are you doing?"

"Mm?" I turn to face Shizuka before smiling. "Oh, I'm fine. You?"

Shizuka shrugs. "Everything's good," she says. "Though, I'm kind of missing Tora."

I nod slightly. "Yeah, feels kind of weird without the Ishiyama students here, hm?" I agree. "Well, I'm sure we'll be able to see them outside of school."

It's been awhile since the Ishiyama students went back to their newly-repaired school building, and since Hecadoth and Agiel left school. Why didn't I go with them? Well, I had registered here as a student, and I was slated to transfer into the third-year class once the Ishiyama students left. While it has been kind of strange, I've adjusted well to the new atmosphere and interacting with my classmates… once they've stopped being afraid of me. Oh well, since I'm a Konketsuji, I've always had people avoiding me because they're instinctively frightened of me.

However, Nanami Shizuka has proved to be a great friend. She and I get along quite well and we've worked together a few times, both in school and outside of school. As for my relationship with Hecadoth, it's still going quite strong. Our dates usually consist of just spending time at my home and either talking or just going on walks. And so far, nothing unusual has happened that has concerned demons or anything else.

"So, how's the studying for entrance exams?" Shizuka asks me. "Any idea on what you want to do?"

I nod. "Yeah. I'm planning on studying police studies at the University of Ishiyama," I say, smiling slightly. "I want to become a police officer, just like my dad." I turn back to her. "What about you, Shizuka?"

"I want to become a pediatrician one day, so I'm applying for medical studies," she tells me. "My dad's a doctor and my mom helps deliver babies, so that's what influenced my decision."

"Wow. Are you planning to study abroad?" I ask her.

She shrugs. "I want to, but I don't know yet," she admits. "Though if I do, I might apply for a university in Canada. I've been researching, and I found some good medical schools in Canada. But for now, I want to study closer to home, so it'll be the University of Ishiyama."

Right then, I notice one of my classmates, Inoue Makoto, leaning closer to the both of us. "Oi, Tanaka, Nanami," he starts, grinning slightly. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Er… why are you asking me this?" I ask, confused.

"No, I don't believe in ghosts," Shizuka adds, rolling her eyes in a friendly manner.

"Well you will, once you hear this story." Inoue-kun grins.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Ever heard of the ghost that haunts the third floor?" he asks.

"Inoue-kun, there are no ghosts in the school," Shizuka chides him gently.

"No no, this is seriously good! Trust me!" he insists. "So, there was once a second-year student who had moved from Kobe to here. However, there was always something a little, you know, different about her. She was unusually violent and she had been expelled from a few schools already before coming here. Suddenly, one morning, when the teachers arrived at the school, they noticed that there was a strong smell in the third floor hallway. When they went to investigate, do you know what they found?" He pauses for dramatic effect. Grinning once more, he lowers his voice to an eerie whisper. "Her bloody body." He grins sinisterly.

"Scary, huh?"

"Come on," I chide lightly. "You don't expect me to believe that, don't you?"

Shizuka rolls her eyes. "Seriously, Inoue-kun… that's disrespectful. You can't just make light of someone's death like that."

"But it's true!" Inoue-kun insists. "People have seen her ghost wandering the halls!"

"Look, that's impossible," Shizuka tries to reason.

At that moment, the chime sounds and our Math teacher comes in. Almost immediately, we all stop talking and start paying attention to the lesson at hand. However, for some reason, as I listen to the teacher, I can't help but let my mind wander to what Inoue had said earlier. A second-year student was murdered in cold blood. And it is said that her ghost wanders the halls of St. Ishiyama.

But hold on… when was she murdered? How long has it been since her death? And what's with these rumors about her ghost haunting St. Ishiyama?

That's not the only thing that's bothering me. Inoue-kun had said that the girl was rather strange, that she was rather violent. Was she a delinquent? Was she murdered by some punks in a fight? No… she was a St. Ishiyama student. Unless she was part of a gang, that would be highly unlikely. So then… what happened exactly?

"Yumi? Oi, Yumi!" Shizuka's voice brings me out of my thoughts, and I turn to look at her.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Math is over," she tells me. "You okay? You seemed kind of spaced out."

I blink. "Yeah, I'm fine," I reassure her. "I was just thinking, that's all."

"Don't tell me you actually believe that story that Inoue-kun was saying, do you?" she asks.

"Well…" I trail off, feeling uncertain before sighing in resignation. "Yeah, I'm kinda worried about it. What exactly happened to her, and why hasn't this been given more attention?"

Shizuka shrugs. "All we ever knew about it was that she was murdered by an unknown assailant," she says. "They never explained what really happened, since the case was unsolved. But try and forget about it for now. We have a test today, remember? In World History?"

I groan. "Don't remind me…"

She laughs lightly. "Don't worry! You'll do fine!"

 _I hope so…_ I think to myself as the chime rings.

* * *

"Five, six, seven, eight!" our Pom Team coach, Iwamoto-sensei, shouts while clapping.

Knowing my cue, I do a backflip from my fellow teammate Chihiro before getting into my ending pose along with my teammates. Once the song comes to an end, Iwamoto-sensei applaudes us.

"Okay, good job, girls!" she praises as we take our stuff and make our way to the change rooms. "You're all done for the day! Now go on and get changed!"

Once I've changed, I meet up with Shizuka outside the gym. "Yo," I greet.

"Hey," she greets back. "You ready?"

"Sure, let's go," I say.

We make our way to the shoe rack to change our shoes. However, as I bend down to change my shoes, I suddenly feel a chill in the air, causing me to look around. _What the hell?_ Again, I feel that same chill, but it doesn't even feel like wind. It feels like… something or someone is touching my legs.

"Yumi?" Shizuka's voice brings me out of my surprised stupor.

"Mm?" I turn to look at her. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm good." I glance around nervously before putting my shoes on. "Let's just get the hell out of here."

"O-Okay…"

We start walking from the school, away from that ominous chill, but for some reason, it does little to calm me down. Sure, that chill could've been from an open door or something, but still, there was something unnatural about it. In fact, it felt like it could've frozen me to the bone. But still, I don't know why it's bothering me so much. Eventually, I decide to try to forget about it so I can calm down.

As we reach the railway crossing area, we suddenly run into Oga, Baby Beel, and Furuichi, much to our surprise. Upon seeing the two of us, they also seem surprised.

"Oh?" Shizuka and I stop walking in surprise.

"Eh? Nanami-senpai? Tanaka-senpai?" Furuichi asks. "What are you doing here?"

"Dah!" Baby Beel greets us.

"Going home," I say as the railway gates are raised.

"Ah, we're also on our way home," Furuichi says as we continue walking.

Oga looks at Shizuka in surprise before looking at me. "Oi, you…" He points at me, and I raise an eyebrow as he struggles to remember my name. "You," he finally says.

I roll my eyes in mock exasperation. "The name's Tanaka," I tell him.

"Whatever. Why are you hanging out with the Horsemen chick?" he asks me.

"Oi, it's Nanami!" Shizuka retorts.

I glance at him in surprise. "She's my friend," I say. "Also, we're working together on a project, didn't I just say that a few moments ago?"

Oga shrugs. "Dunno." He turns to Furuichi. "Oi, Furuichi. Did you get the new Dragonball Z game?"

Furuichi rolls his eyes in pretend annoyance. "Yeah, I did. You'd think I'd forget?" he huffs. "You've been hounding me since last week!"

I laugh slightly as I watch the banter between Oga and Furuichi. They are such dorks, and it's so funny to see the two of them like this. Eventually, I part ways with them before reaching my own neighbourhood.

"I'm home!" I call out as I enter the door.

"Welcome home, Yumi!" Mom calls back, entering the hallway. "How was your day?"

"It was fine," I say, shrugging slightly as I make my way to the main room. Upon entering, I see Dad sitting at the table, going through some files.

"Hey Dad. What's up?" I ask.

He looks up and smiles at me. "Hey Yumi," he greets. "I'm just reviewing an old case file that I decided to reopen."

"What case do you have today?" I ask.

He sighs. "It's a pretty peculiar one," he tells me. "Twenty years ago, a student was murdered in St. Ishiyama. Her corpse was found by the teachers in the third floor hallway the morning after her death."

My eyes widen in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. This case was put off for a while because the officer who was working on it at the time died, but I've decided to reopen the case and see if more progress can be made in solving it," he explains.

 _Wait… could this be…_ "You know, I heard a story from one of my classmates about how a student was murdered in St. Ishiyama," I recall.

Dad looks at me in surprise. "That is exactly who I'm talking about," he tells me. "The case I'm working on right now. It's the murder of a girl named Shibuya Airi."

My jaw drops open in shock as I look down at the photo of her. There she is, in her uniform, with black hair in a bob cut, brown eyes, and a kind smile. She looks like a very pretty girl, yet for some reason, I can almost sense something about this deceased girl.

"But that's not all," Dad adds. "It's what I've read about her that is kind of disturbing me. I'm a little concerned about how she was described, and the circumstances she was in at the time of her death. She was being stalked by an unknown person, and because she had no parents, she was very much vulnerable. Not to mention, the autopsy is rather strange. She died from blunt force trauma to the head, but there were various stab wounds found post-mortem. There is definitely something off about this."

I nod slowly as I glance down at the photo from her crime scene. There she is, her dead body lying on the ground, blood flowing from her head, as well as from various stab wounds in her body. Her eyes are wide open and glazed, but there's something disturbing about her eyes. They're blank, and they seem almost promising of… something. I can't exactly pinpoint what the emotion is, but I can tell from the photo that something is not right. In addition, I feel an unnerving, haunting feeling just from looking at the photo. Inoue-kun had said that there was something off about her, but how so? For some reason, I can't help but be bothered by this. I just hope that this uneasiness goes away soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's Chapter 2. This story, I'm actually pretty happy with it, even if it's caused a lot of research about ghosts and vengeance and the like. However, it's going to be a lot darker than anything I've written so far, but I hope you enjoy it ^_^**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2- What Does Vengeance Mean to You?**

"So, are you looking forward to seeing the movie?" I ask Shizuka as we make our way to the movie theatre in downtown Ishiyama.

Shizuka shrugs her shoulders. "Well, I think it should be good, since it's got some great reviews," she says. "Though, I'm wondering how they're going to retell the _Yotsuya Kaidan_ in the modern era."

"Me too," I agree. "But to be honest, the plot really sounds good. I can't wait to see it."

It's the weekend, and Shizuka and I are going to see a new movie that's released recently. It's a Japanese horror movie that's got really good reviews from the critics. Known as _Oiwa's Revenge_ , it's a modern retelling of the _Yotsuya Kaidan_ , one of my favourite kabuki plays.

"Just by the title, I can tell that this is gonna be good," I say, my voice laced with eagerness.

Eventually, we reach the movie theatre, where we see a lot of people. Shizuka turns to me. "I'm just going to the bathroom. Can you wait?" she asks.

"Sure," I say.

Once she leaves for the bathroom, I sit down near a small table. Right then, to my surprise, I hear the sound of someone pulling out the chair opposite of me and sitting down in it. When I turn to see who it is, I can't stop myself from smiling. "Hecadoth," I greet.

"Yumi," he greets, giving me a smile as he takes my hand and kisses it.

I blush slightly at the action. "How are you?" I ask.

"Fine, really," he says. "And you?"

I nod. "I'm good," I say. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here with the Pillar Squad to see a movie," he tells me. "It's called _Oiwa's Revenge_. And you?"

"Shizuka and I are actually going to see that movie as well!" I tell him eagerly. "I'm really excited about seeing it. What about you?"

"I guess I'm also looking forward to seeing it," he agrees. "After all, there's going to be revenge, and I'm interested in seeing how it happens."

A bead of sweat rolls down my forehead. Well, I guess I should've expected that, since he's a demon and he loves anything to do with revenge.

Right then, I notice Shizuka coming out from the bathroom. "Yumi, let's go," she tells me.

I nod. "Yeah." I then wave to Hecadoth. "See you!" I give him a small kiss on the cheek before making my way to the usher to show our tickets. Much to our surprise, it's Toujou.

"Tora?" Shizuka says in surprise.

Upon seeing Shizuka, Toujou smiles. "Hey, Shizuka!" he greets cheerfully. "So, which movie are you here to see?"

" _Oiwa's Revenge_ ," Shizuka tells him as I hand over our tickets.

"Okay then, that'll be in number 7, on your left," he tells us. "Enjoy the movie!"

We make our way to the theatre and find some decent seats. "This should be good," I say as we sit down. I proceed to remove my teal winter coat while Shizuka removes hers.

"I never thought I'd see Tora here," Shizuka muses. "Well, I'm not surprised. He's always been working multiple jobs."

I nod. Right then, we notice four other people coming to sit beside us. Much to my surprise, it's Hilda, Aoi, Nene, and another tall girl with short brown hair. Upon seeing Shizuka and I, they look at us in surprise.

"Shizuka? Yumi?" Aoi says in surprise. "You're here too?!"

I smile. "Long time no see, Aoi," I tell her. I then turn to the brown-haired girl. "And you are…?"

She smiles at me. "Oga Misaki. Nice to meet you," she says.

"Wait, what?" I stare at her in surprise. She's Oga's sister? "You're Oga Tatsumi's sister?"

"That's right! And the former leader of the Red Tails!" she confirms. "I came with Hilda, since she was interested in seeing this movie."

Hilda smiles slightly. "I wanted to see what this movie is like, seeing as it's based on an old play. I can't wait to see the movie," she says.

Nene blushes slightly. "I dragged Aoi-neesan here," she tells us.

Shizuka smiles. "Ah, no worries," she reassures them. "You can sit by us."

"Oh, by the way, what are your names?" Misaki asks us.

I smile. "My name's Tanaka Yumi," I introduce.

"Nanami Shizuka," Shizuka introduces. "We're both 3rd-years from St. Ishiyama."

"Nice!" Misaki says.

Right then, we see the Pillar Squad coming in and settling down in two rows. Upon seeing Hecadoth, I wave at him, and he waves back before sitting down next to Graphel and starting a conversation with him. Seeing as there's only a few more minutes before the movie starts, I turn to Hilda to ask something.

"Hilda?" I ask.

She turns to me. "What is it?"

"What does vengeance mean to demons?" I ask.

"Well, vengeance means a lot of things for us demons," she admits. "However, the most basic thing is that for us, vengeance is an eye for an eye. For example, if a demon rapes the daughter of a family, it is required for the mother of the wronged family to avenge the daughter by publicly castrating the rapist before beheading him. That actually became a law after a demon woman had done that to the man who raped her daughter."

My eyes widen in shock. "Seriously?"

Hilda smiles. "It is a good law, in my opinion," she says.

"But what does vengeance mean to you, Hilda?" I ask.

"What does vengeance mean to me?" Hilda thinks for a moment, and I see her visible eye closing in thought, before she opens it slightly. "To me, vengeance is a necessity. For me not to exact vengeance on anyone who dishonours my master or my family would be shocking and an insult to my family. The most important thing is that vengeance must be slow and torturous for the offender, so that they can realize that they brought it upon themselves moments before a painful death." She gives me a slight nod. "I hope that answers your question, Yumi."

Right then, the theatre lights dim, letting us know that the movie is about to start. After the trailers for upcoming films, the movie finally starts. Much to my pleasure, the movie manages to showcase the story so well in that it still fits with the original theme and spirit of the kabuki play. Also, the horror is how the ghost of Oiwa is rarely ever shown, and when she is, it's a very simple, yet horrifying reveal of her ghost. Overall, the movie ends up being extremely well-made and well-acted.

When the movie ends, I glance over at Shizuka, and I see a look of pure shock on her face. "O-Oi… Shizuka, are you okay?" I ask as I get up.

She slowly stands up. "Well… I can now say for sure that I am never watching horror movies ever again," she tells me.

"That was actually really good," Misaki says, smiling slightly.

Hilda smirks. "Serves that filthy Iemon right," she adds. "He deserved all the humiliation and mental torture she gave him."

When we arrive in the lobby, I see the Pillar Squad hanging around and talking. "Hecadoth!" I call, making my way over to him. "What'd you think of the movie?" I ask.

He smirks. "It was pretty fucking good," he tells me. "I especially enjoyed the slaughter of the Ito family at Iemon's hands. That was very satisfying."

I laugh slightly. "Yeah, that scene could make a demon proud…"

"What about you?" he asks.

"I loved it," I tell him. "I especially loved how Osode and Oiwa were portrayed." I then turn slightly to go to Shizuka. "Anyways, can I talk to you later?"

"Sure. See you," he says.

"See ya!" I make my way over to Shizuka, before the both of us start leaving the theatre and making our way to the metro station to go home.

As we walk to the metro station, I recall what Hilda had said about vengeance and what it means to her, and I can't help but feel a strange curiosity towards this topic. I then glance at Shizuka. "Oi, Shizuka," I say, getting her attention as we entered the metro station.

"Mm?" She turns to face me.

"You know, I was just wondering… what does vengeance mean to you?" I ask her.

Shizuka looks surprised for a moment. "Vengeance? Well…" She thinks for a moment. "I honestly don't believe in vengeance. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, right?"

"How come?"

"Vengeance never really has a good outcome for both parties. The one enacting revenge will be poisoned with hatred and in the end, they may end up doing more harm than good, you know? I believe that people should let justice come naturally. After all, justice may be delayed, but it'll always be fulfilled." She then turns to me. "What about you, Yumi? What does vengeance mean to you?"

At that moment, the metro arrives and we climb aboard it, sitting down in two seats. As we do so, I think about Shizuka's question. "Vengeance, huh?" I muse as I look outside the window.

"To me, vengeance is to let the punishment fit the crime," I admit. "For example, if someone rapes a woman, let them be castrated and fed to the dogs. If someone is a child molester, let them be murdered by the inmates. Basically, I believe that the punishment for certain crimes must be befitting of the crime itself."

Shizuka laughs nervously. "Yumi… that's seriously violent," she tells me. "Are you like some kind of demon?"

I laugh wryly. "Yeah, maybe. I'm kinda fucked-up when it comes to this kind of stuff."

Eventually, the metro reaches the stop which is closest to St. Ishiyama, which is the way we go home. After leaving the station, we continue walking home, going past the school building. By now, it's nighttime, and the snow is falling rather heavily from the sky. I glance at the school, and a slight shiver runs up my spine.

"Ever noticed how the school looks kinda scary at night?" I ask. However, that's when I see it, and I automatically stop in my tracks.

"Yumi?" Distantly, I hear Shizuka calling to me, but my attention is drawn towards one of the windows on the third floor of the school. It looks like there's a person in that window, just standing there. However, since we're kind of far from the building, I can't make out the figure clearly.

"Shizuka…" I say. "There's someone in the school."

Shizuka looks at me incredulously. "Wait, what?"

"Look." I point at the window, where the figure is still standing.

Shizuka's eyes widen in surprise. "You're right…"

We can't really make out as to who it might be, but because of the moonlight shining, we are able to see the vague outline of the person in the window. However, because we're too far from the school, and the gates are locked, we're unable to get closer to see who it is. They aren't doing anything in the window, they're just... staring at us.

"Who is that?" I ask.

Shizuka shakes her head. "No idea. No one should be in the school right now, it's the weekend," she says. "The school should be locked."

"Hold on, I'll see if I can call the police to-" I glance back at the window to see if they're still there, but to my surprise, they're gone.

"What the-?! They're gone!" I say in surprise. "But they were just there!"

Shizuka stares at the school building in suspicion. "Something really is not right," she muses. "Why would anyone be in the school right now? And how would they have been able to get in if the school is locked?"

An uneasy feeling stirs in my gut. "Let's just go home," I suggest. "We'll try and figure it out tomorrow."

"Good idea."

Shizuka and I continue on our way home, and to try and distract ourselves from what we just saw, we talk about our plans for the future as well as our club activities. However, this does little to calm me down, as a seed of doubt has been planted in my mind. For some reason, I find my thoughts going back to the case of Shibuya Airi, and the story of a ghost wandering the halls of St. Ishiyama. Could it really be…?

No. It's just a story, there's no way it could be her ghost. But still… why is this constantly coming up?

After parting ways with Shizuka, I make my way into my house. "I'm back!" I call.

"Welcome back," Mom greets. "How was the movie?"

"You'd have loved it," I tell her. "A tale of vengeance and justice. It would've made a demon proud."

Mom laughs. "That's true," she says.

"In fact, I had a discussion about vengeance with Shizuka right after," I laugh.

After talking with Mom and Dad for a bit, I go up to my room and just throw myself onto my bed. As I stare up at the ceiling, I think about the person in the school. Who was it, and why were they just staring out from the window?

The more I think about it, the more my doubt increases. Something is incredibly strange about it, and to be honest… paranormal. I sigh as I close my eyes, deciding that I should try and forget about it. If I think about this too much, it'll eat away at my sanity.

No… I don't think I can forget about it. I decide to tell Hecadoth about this tomorrow. Maybe he might understand my concerns.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's Chapter 3. There will be some mature content in the future, but it won't be enough for me to have to up the rating of this story. Also, I might have mentioned this before, but this story will be dealing with some rather dark and triggering subject matter, so I'll be putting trigger warnings when I need to. That being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3- Demon of the Third Floor**

"Morning, Hecadoth," I greet upon seeing him in front of my house. I walk up to him and plant a short kiss on his lips.

He kisses me back briefly. "Morning," he greets. "Are you ready?" he asks.

I nod. "Sure, let's go," I say.

As we walk to school, Hecadoth and I catch up on various things and talk about simple things. Eventually, he decides to ask me the question that I've been expecting. "So Yumi, what made you decide to ask me to accompany you to school today?" he asks.

"Well…" I glance at him from the corner of my eyes. "It's about something that has been bothering me for a while. You see, I recently heard a story about how a second-year student was murdered twenty years ago in St. Ishiyama, and there are rumours about how a ghost is haunting the school. I didn't think much of it until yesterday evening, when Shizuka and I were on our way home from the movie theatre."

"Go on," he tells me.

"We passed by the school, and at some point, I just happened to glance at the school building, and we noticed someone staring out from a window on the third floor. Since yesterday, it's been bothering me, and I can't ignore it," I finish.

Hecadoth looks thoughtful for a moment. "Is that so?" he asks. "Well, is there anyway I can help you with this?"

I think for a moment. "Well, after school, I'm planning to do a bit of searching up about the person on the third floor of St. Ishiyama, just to try and understand what is going on," I say. "I was wondering if you'd like to come to the library with me?"

"Of course," he says. "I'm more than happy to help you out."

Smiling at him, I stop walking before giving him a sweet kiss on his lips. He kisses me back just as gently, caressing my face with his gloved hands. When I pull away, I smile at him again."Thanks, Hecadoth. I really appreciate it," I thank him sincerely.

Eventually, we reach the school, where we part ways. "I'll see you after school!" I wave to him before giving him a short kiss on the cheek.

"See you too," he tells me as I make my way to the school.

* * *

For the most part, school is uneventful. Classes go by as usual, and today, we receive our World History tests. Much to my relief, I have a pretty good mark on the test, an 81% to be exact. Perhaps the most interesting thing that happened today is the ammonia fountain experiment we did in Chemistry. However, other than that, classes were pretty normal.

After school, I go to Pom Team practice as always, where we do some routines that involve a lot of hip movements and suggestive moves. By the time we're done, I'm rather tired and sweaty, and I make sure to clean myself thoroughly in the shower after practice.

"See you after school, Yumi-chan!" one of my teammates, a second-year named Kanako, calls after me.

"See you, Kanako-chan!" I call back as I walk out of the change room with my school bag under my arm.

As I make my way out of the school building, I see Hecadoth waiting by the gates. However, just as I'm walking towards him, I stop as I realize that I forgot something.

"Shit!" I curse in frustration. "I left my Japanese textbook in the classroom!"

Hecadoth looks at me in confusion. "Everything okay?" he asks.

"Sorry, I forgot to bring one of my textbooks before coming here," I explain. "Can you wait here? I'll just run back and get it."

"Sure."

I hastily walk back into the school and quickly change my shoes in the shoe rack before going up to my classroom on the third floor. Upon entering the hallway of the third floor, I feel a strange chill running down my back. The hallway is unusually dark and chilly, and for some reason, there's hardly anyone else. In fact, it's so chilly that I can see my own breath.

"No, Yumi," I tell myself softly. "You're just here to get your textbook. That's all. Just retrieve the textbook and go." Letting out a sigh as I shake my head, I enter the empty classroom and make my way to my desk. Opening up my desk, I find my Japanese textbook and I put it into my school bag before leaving the classroom.

Upon entering the hallway again, I feel another chill running through my spine. Despite my attempts to ignore it, I suddenly feel a sharp demonic presence. This puts me on high alert. When I take a step into the hallway, I feel as if someone's watching me, and I shudder lightly. Suddenly, I hear what sounds like a low, chilling whisper in the halls, and I look around warily. That's when I see it.

Standing in the far end of the hallway is a female figure. However, because majority of the lights are turned off, I cannot make out as to who she is. Then again, her head is bent down, so I can't even tell who she is. Upon looking at her, I feel a quiet dread within me.

"H-Hello?" I ask. "Are you lost?"

The girl just stays motionless and doesn't respond. Frowning, I take a few steps towards her. "Are you a student here? What's your name?"

Even though I'm reasonably far, I still feel an uneasiness. Though my gut is telling me to run away, my mind is telling me to see who this girl is. However, she suddenly starts to walk towards me, much to my shock. No, more like she's _stalking_ towards me. My eyes widen in surprise and I turn on my heel and run down the stairs, trying to outrun her.

No doubt, she isn't too far behind me, as I can hear the eerie whispers and feel the demonic energy that she seems to be emitting. Instinctively, I run faster, my breathing becoming quicker as I finally make it to the shoe racks, slamming the door behind me and hastily changing my shoes. Once I've done that, I run even faster out of the building to where Hecadoth is.

Upon seeing me, I see a curious look cross Hecadoth's face. "Yumi, what's wrong?" he asks. "You look out of breath."

"S-Sorry…" I pant, bending down slightly to try and catch my breath. "I… ran… all the… way here…"

"Well, I clearly see that, but why?" he asks.

I laugh nervously. "Oh… no reason…" I try to shrug it off. "Well, let's go to the library."

Hecadoth looks at me suspiciously, but he decides to drop it, much to my relief. As the two of us walk to the library, I try to take my mind off what just happened by telling him about my day at school, as well as an exciting event that's coming up.

"Did you know? There's a kabuki theatre troupe coming to Ishiyama to perform _Yotsuya Kaidan_ , the play that the movie from yesterday was based off!" I tell him eagerly.

"Is that so?" he asks.

I nod. "Yeah! My parents and I are going to see it! You should totally come and see it, it would be a nice opportunity for you and the Pillar Squad to learn about Japanese culture," I encourage.

"I'll see," he tells me.

Eventually, we reach the library, and we make our way to one of the computers. "So, you wanted to read about…?" Hecadoth asks.

"Ishiyama Urban Legends," I say, entering it into the search bar.

Upon hitting 'search', I search through the list of results that have appeared, trying to find a useful and reliable one. I find a source on a website that is about the urban legends of Ishiyama, so I click on that one. "Let's see here…"

Upon clicking the link, a page comes up with various stories. Right then, I see one that has an image of a shadow of a girl, standing in a hallway. Underneath reads 'Demon of the Third Floor'. Hecadoth glances at that story curiously as I click on it.

"'Demon of the Third Floor'?" he asks.

"This is probably the one." I read through the details of the story.

"The Demon of the Third Floor is the ghost of a girl who died a violent death on the third floor of the school she attended." I frown slightly. "So, she's a vengeful spirit?"

Hecadoth's eyes widen in surprise as he reads further. "Yumi, she went to the school you're going to," he tells me, pointing at the screen. "St. Ishiyama."

"Seriously?" I read where he's pointing at, and my eyes widen in shock. "She was a second-year St. Ishiyama student… who was rumoured to be a delinquent."

Finally, we manage to reach the section that details her death. As Hecadoth reads through the details, his eyes then widen slightly in surprise. "Apparently, she was brutally murdered, and her death was never solved, her murderer never caught. That's why her ghost is said to wander the halls of St. Ishiyama, because she cannot rest in peace."

"It is said that those who see her ghost will be tormented by her until they commit suicide." I suddenly feel a quiet horror growing in my gut.

If this is true, then… I saw the Demon of the Third Floor. Twice. So… what's going to happen? Am I going to go crazy? My mind is already a blur as this realization hits me… but it can't be real! It's just an urban legend!

However, I can't help but feel a bit unsure about that. And for some reason, I find my mind going back to Shibuya Airi, the girl who was killed twenty years ago. No, that can't be possible. It's probably just a coincidence. Ghosts don't exist… right?

"Yumi? Is everything okay?" I'm brought out of my thoughts by Hecadoth, who is looking at me in concern.

I shake my head. "No, just thinking," I mumble as I close the window. "Let's go, Hecadoth."

On the way home, Hecadoth turns to me. "Yumi, something's bothering you," he tells me bluntly. "Don't try and act like you don't know what I'm talking about. I've noticed."

I sigh. "I honestly don't know how you're able to tell this…" I mutter.

"Mind telling me what's bothering you?" he asks.

I hesitate, but I decide to tell him about what happened. "You know how I had accidentally left my Japanese textbook in the class, and I had to go back to retrieve it?" I recall.

"Yeah."

"Well…" I trail off. "After getting it, I suddenly felt this… weird presence. Like, I felt this chill in the air, and I could hear what sounded like whispers," I continue. "But what really made me… unnerved was that I could feel this demonic aura in the hallway."

Hecadoth looks surprised. "Go on," he tells me.

"And then… at the end of the hallway, I saw a girl standing there," I finish, looking down. "She started stalking towards me, which was why I was running so fast. But… I'm kind of worried now. I feel like something even worse is going to happen."

He looks thoughtful for a moment. "You said that you could sense a demonic aura when you saw that girl?" he asks.

I nod. "Yeah," I say.

He seems both confused and surprised by this. "I'll try and find someone in the Pillar Squad who might have a clue about this," he tells me. "As you said, something does seem a bit off about this, and I want to try and see what we can do."

"Okay."

We finally reach my house, and after giving Hecadoth a kiss, I go inside to tell my parents about my day, hoping to forget about what I just saw. However, it doesn't leave me alone, even as I'm getting ready for bed. In fact, when I find myself jolting out of sleep because of a vividly surreal nightmare, I know that it's because of the incident in the hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here is where Oga, Hilda, Baby Beel, and Furuichi come in now. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4- Ishiyama gets Involved**

I jolt out of bed again, my body drenched in sweat, and my heart pounding rapidly against my chest as I pant in fear. Upon glancing around my bedroom, I close my eyes and press my hand against my chest, sighing in frustration. Yet another nightmare has decided to come and haunt me, only this time, it was as if I was trapped in a _Silent Hill_ game.

Upon glancing at the clock, I note that the time is 2:30. While this isn't new, since I'm a light sleeper, this is one of the first times I've been losing sleep because of nightmares. While the nightmares have been varying, one thing remains the same in all of them: they are centered around that strange girl from yesterday. But why is it that it's like I'm a protagonist in a horror movie? Who the hell is that girl? And why was she in the school?

I lie back down and try my best to get some sleep, but to no avail. My mind is too troubled to even let me fall asleep, and even if I try, I might end up having even more nightmares. "Oh, fuck it," I mutter to myself as I climb out of bed, yawning. Since I'm awake, I might as well get ready for school. But since my parents are asleep, I have to be quiet.

Grabbing my uniform, I silently make my way to the bathroom to shower and freshen up. After my shower, I dry off and brush my teeth before changing into my uniform. I then brush my hair before going back to my room and getting my things together for the day. Once I've gotten ready, I sit in my room and just go through some homework that I was unable to complete last night. By then, it's 3:30 in the morning.

"Fuck…" I mumble. "Today's gonna be a long day…"

Eventually, the first light of dawn starts to shine through my window, and I soon start hearing Mom and Dad getting out of bed and getting ready for the day. At this time, I decide to go downstairs and eat some breakfast.

"Good morning, Yumi," Mom greets as I enter the kitchen.

"Mornin'," I mumble. "Mom, can I have something light for breakfast? I don't think I can stomach a full meal today."

Dad looks at me in concern. "What's wrong?" he asks me.

I sigh. "Couldn't sleep last night. I've been up since 2:30 and I got ready for school at around 3:00, I think?"

Both Mom and Dad are shocked to hear this. "Why?" Mom asks, gently holding my face. "Were you stressed about something?"

"No… I just had some weird dreams," I say, trying to be as vague as possible.

Dad shakes his head, a wry smile on his face. "I've told you before, haven't I?" he reminds me. "No reading horror novels before going to sleep."

"Yeah, I know."

Mom gives me a hug and kisses my forehead as I eat my breakfast. "Do your best in school today, okay?" she encourages me. "Try and get some sleep if you can."

I nod, giving her a smile. Once I'm done, I grab my bookbag and make my way to the door. "I'm leaving now!" I call.

"Have a nice day!" Mom calls back.

On my way to school, my mind is preoccupied with the events of yesterday, from my encounter with the girl in the school hallway to reading about the Demon of the Third Floor. For some reason, I feel like there is a connection between the Demon of the Third Floor, the girl from yesterday, and Shibuya Airi. Is it possible that…?

I shake my head. No. That's impossible. There's no way that could be real. It's probably just a coincidence. But even as I repeatedly tell myself that, the thought still lingers in my head, and continues to do so even after reaching school.

"Morning, Yumi," Shizuka greets as I make my way to my desk.

"Mornin'," I mumble exhaustedly, resting my head against the desk.

"You okay?" she asks me.

I shake my head. "So fucking tired…" I tell her. "I woke up at 2:30 in the morning, and I didn't even go back to sleep after that. I just got ready for school at 3:00."

Shizuka looks at me in shock. "You got ready for school at 3:00?!" she repeats in disbelief. "That's way too early!"

I shrug. "I mean, I'm a light sleeper, and this isn't the first time I've woken up early in the morning," I say. "But this is the first time I'm losing sleep because of nightmares."

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah. It felt like I was trapped in a fucking _Silent Hill_ game, and that I was being stalked by something. It started after yesterday." My eyes widen in shock after saying that. I didn't mean to say that. I wanted to try and keep it to myself, but I guess I can't now.

Shizuka looks at me in concern. "Can you tell me what triggered it?" she asks.

I sigh. "Well-"

The chime suddenly rings, signalling the start of class. "Tell me at lunch," Shizuka encourages me as our teacher walks in and everyone goes back to their seats.

It's a struggle for me to stay awake during the morning, and several times, I've caught myself on the verge of sleep. The morning also seems to go by so slowly, which is torturous, and I find myself glancing at the clock frequently in the hopes that class will end soon. Eventually, class finally ends for lunch, and nearly everyone leaves the classroom, leaving Shizuka and I in the room.

Shizuka turns to me. "Tell me, Yumi," she starts. "What happened?"

Rubbing my forehead, I sigh. _No point in trying to hide it now, I guess…_ "Well, yesterday, I had left my Japanese textbook in here, so I came back to get it," I start. "However, after I got it, I felt this… this strange presence in the hallways, as well as this chilly air."

"Go on," Shizuka tells me.

"I then… I saw this girl standing at the end of the hallways," I tell her. "I don't know who she was, but she just started stalking towards me, and I just bolted out of the school." I shake my head. "Honestly, I'm kind of worried."

I half-expect Shizuka to either not believe me or roll her eyes at me, but to my surprise, I see a look of complete shock crossing her face. "You too?" she asks in disbelief.

I stare at her in surprise. "Wait, what do you mean?" I ask.

Shizuka slowly shakes her head. "I mean, I thought I was hallucinating, but…" She looks up at me. "I saw her too."

My eyes widen in shock. "Seriously? When?!"

"Two days after we saw the movie," she tells me. "I was in the bathroom when I heard what sounded like crying from outside. When I left the bathroom, I saw a girl crouched down in the hallway and crying. I had never seen her before, but when I tried to comfort her, she just looked up and glared at me." She shudders as she remembers the story. "Yumi… she had this black gunk running down her face, and her eyes were blank and filled with hatred… it was as if she was just looking into my soul."

"Really?"

"I've also been having nightmares about it," she confesses. "I don't know what's going on, I don't know why this is happening…"

I shake my head. "I don't know either…"

"Just as I thought. You two have also seen the Demon of the Third Floor, huh."

We turn towards the door in surprise and see Izuma standing in the doorway. Standing behind him, to our surprise, are Oga, Baby Beel, Furuichi, and Hilda.

"Eh? What are they doing here?" I ask.

"Just like you two, they all saw the Demon of the Third Floor haunting Ishiyama High School, and so have I," Izuma explains.

 _Wait, what?_ I think. Haunting Ishiyama? But why? "Why in Ishiyama? I thought that she only haunted St. Ishiyama," I ask.

"Well, we apparently saw her on the third floor of the school three days ago," Furuichi explains. "It was brief, but it looked like she just sneered at us before disappearing. We came here because she was wearing a St. Ishiyama school uniform, and we wanted to know if anyone knew about her here."

I smile wryly. "Looks like you guys came to the right place," I say, my voice laced with dry humour. "I saw her yesterday, and I've been having nightmares since then."

Shizuka shrugs as well. "Me too," she adds. "Two days after watching a movie, I saw her, and I've also been suffering from nightmares."

"That's why we had to come here," Hilda explains. "We need to know if any of you have ever come across her, and who she is exactly."

They all come inside the classroom and sit down in some desks as Izuma starts talking. "The Demon of the Third Floor story started around a few years ago," he starts. "The basic story is about a girl who was brutally murdered on the third floor, and because her killer was never brought to justice, her ghost is haunting the third floor of St. Ishiyama."

"Her ghost haunts the third floor of any educational institution, like high schools and universities. They say that anyone who sees her ghost will be haunted by her until they commit suicide," Shizuka finishes.

Again, I feel the same uneasiness and dread building up in me as I recall how Dad told me about reopening the case of Shibuya Airi's murder. Both these murders are so similar to one another that it's no longer sounding like a coincidence. However, even if that were the case, no one would even believe us. Even so, I should still say something about it, no matter how absurd I sound.

But there's something else that's still gnawing at my mind. The officer who had been investigating the murder of Shibuya Airi had died. Apparently, according to Dad, it had been a hit-and-run. However, something really is not right about that. I mean, why the hell was that guy killed? It was probably to shut him up. Even Dad's suspicious about that. There's no way that it could be a coincidence.

"Guys…" I say, getting their attention. "Now that I think about it, my dad told me that he's reopening a case that was closed that sounded so similar to this story. There was a student who was murdered in the third floor hallway of St. Ishiyama twenty years ago, and her case was closed a year after her death, because the officer investigating the case died."

"That so?" Oga asks.

"What are you trying to say?" Izuma asks me. "That there is a connection between this story and the case of the murdered student?"

"To be honest, I don't even know if it is a legitimate connection or not," I admit. "I was just noticing how similar they both sounded."

"Oi, don't be silly, Tanaka," Oga tells me. "Ghosts don't exist."

"That's what I keep saying to myself," I say, sounding worried. "I don't even know if I can believe that anymore."

Right then, we hear the sound of the chime ringing, meaning that lunch has finished, and that class is going to start soon. "Since class is starting soon, you'll have to go. We'll discuss this after school."

"Okay then. We'll be waiting." Oga, Baby Beel, Furuichi, and Hilda get up and leave the classroom as we take our seats.

For the rest of the day, however, I'm distracted by this thought. Is there really a connection between Shibuya Airi and the Demon of the Third Floor? For some reason, my gut keeps on telling me that there is, that the two of them are connected in some way. But there is something else that's bothering me. Are demons involved in this somehow?


	5. Chapter 5

**I decided to add chapter 5 as well. And to Devlin Dracul, as much as I want to answer your questions, I really don't want to spoil anything for you~ I hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5- The Letter**

"...and then, he called me a psycho after I called him out on cheating on me! Can you believe it?!" Asako, one of my teammates, rants to me as we leave the changerooms. "He has the nerve to call me a psycho!"

"Wow, what a dick," I scoff in disgust. "Did you dump his ass yet?"

"Not yet, but I'm definitely going to right now," she tells me. "You know, Yumi, you're so lucky to have a boyfriend who actually loves you and cares about you. I mean, I've seen you two around together, and he's always so sweet towards you. Mine is just a jerk."

I shake my head. "He's not worth it, Asako," I tell her. "Just leave him. You deserve so much better."

"You're right," she agrees. "Anyways, I have to go now, because…" She trails off, and I'm about to ask her what's wrong when she points towards a certain direction. At the same time, I also sense a slight demonic presence from behind. Curiously, I turn around and to my surprise, I see our History teacher, Satou-sensei, standing behind me with some books in his hands.

He gives me a seemingly friendly smile. "Sorry to ask you of this, Tanaka-san, but I was wondering if you could be able to take these books back to the classroom on the third floor?" he asks me.

I nod. "S-Sure, Satou-sensei," I agree, taking the books from him. "Well, I'll see you around, Asako!" I call as I make my way to the third floor of the school.

Once again, as I make my way to the third floor of the school, I feel the unmistakable dread filling up in me. A part of me knows that I shouldn't be doing this if I know someone like that girl is on the third floor, but I know that I can't say no to a teacher like that. If I said no, he'd ask me why not, and there's no way I'm telling him why.

Besides, if I said no to someone like Satou-sensei, he'll get all leery and creepy towards me, and that's the last thing I want. For some reason, I have a very bad feeling about Satou-sensei. There's something about him that worries me, and the fact that I just sensed a demonic presence from him doesn't really help.

Sure enough, when I enter the third floor hallway, I can feel a shiver running down my spine. The hallway is completely dark and empty. As I enter the hallway, I walk slightly faster, looking around me cautiously. For how lively and busy this hallway can be during the school day, it can also be as quiet and grim as a crypt or a sepulcher during after school hours.

I finally manage to reach the classroom, where I place the books atop the teacher's desk before leaving quickly. I don't want to stay there too long, lest something creepy happens. Picking my bookbag up, I hastily walk out of the classroom, closing the door behind me. But that's when I can sense it.

I feel a cold sensation brushing past my back, and I tense up as I turn around. However, I see no one. Raising my eyebrows, I look around in confusion until my eyes land on a figure, standing near one of the classroom doors, her back turned to me. The figure is a girl in the St. Ishiyama uniform with black hair in a bob cut. Oddly enough, I can sense a demonic energy from her, which increases my suspicions. Even though my reason is telling me to run, my instinct makes me walk up to her.

"Hello? Are you lost?" I ask her.

She doesn't react, even as I walk closer to her.

"Is everything okay? What's wrong?" I ask again.

Suddenly, I hear her speak, and I freeze in shock at what she says.

" _They know what you are."_

Her voice is an eerie, hoarse whisper, and it makes me falter and step back a bit. My eyes widen in surprise as her voice rings in my ears. Too stunned to say anything else, I barely notice her turning around until she looks directly into my eyes. And that's when my jaw drops open as I take in her appearance.

Her face is pale and haggard, with dark circles under her eyes. A strange black fluid drips from her head and stains her sickly pale face, and the same fluid drips from various punctures in her body and stains her hands and legs. Even her uniform is stained with this black matter. However, that's not what horrifies me. It's her eyes. Her black, cold, listless eyes that stare directly into me and make me feel naked and vulnerable.

I take a few steps back, still in shock. So this what the Demon of the Third Floor looks like? As she continues to stare unforgivingly at me, she opens her mouth and repeats what she had told me.

" _They know what you are."_

Shaking my head, I turn on my heel and run away from her, going as fast as I can. I don't care if she's chasing me or not, I have to get out of here. Running to the shoe racks, I hastily switch shoes before sprinting outside, ignoring the blowing snow and wind that hits me as I run outside. As I run to the gates, I check behind me every now and then to make sure she isn't chasing me. Even though she isn't, I don't slow my pace.

Fortunately, I see Shizuka, Izuma, and Hecadoth, to my surprise, standing by the school gates. Upon seeing me running, they look at me curiously as I stop in front of them, bending slightly to catch my breath. "So sorry…" I pant.

"What happened?" Hecadoth asks me, helping me up and moving my hair away from my face.

"Nothing, really…" I brush it off. I know I should tell them about what I saw, but a part of me tells me to keep it a secret for now. I then glance up at Hecadoth. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Your boyfriend apparently has some information about the Demon of the Third Floor, and he wanted to share it with us once you came," Shizuka tells me. "We're going to the ramen shop to meet up with Oga, Furuichi, and Hilda-san to talk about it."

I nod. "Yeah…"

We start walking to the ramen shop, but this walk does little to calm me down. My stomach is churning slightly from seeing the Demon, and my heart is filled with fear and dread. This is the third time I've seen her, and up close now. I recall how the legend went, and how anyone who sees her ghost will go crazy until they commit suicide.

As that crosses my mind, my legs stop moving and I stand still for a moment. Hecadoth notices this and stops walking before looking at me in concern. "Yumi, are you okay?" he asks me.

I look at him. "I… I'm feeling a bit scared…" I confess to him, my voice unusually small.

"Is this about the Demon of the Third Floor?" he asks as we continue walking.

I nod, and he gently pulls me close. Before I realize, I suddenly start speaking. "I… I saw her again after school today," I tell him. "The Demon of the Third Floor."

He looks at me in shock. "Really?"

"Yeah. I don't want to tell them immediately though."

"Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

I sigh. "I had just left a classroom after returning some books for a teacher," I start. "When I entered the hallway, though, I noticed how cold it was, and that's when I saw a girl standing by a classroom door with her back turned to me." I slowly shake my head. "I… I thought she was just a St. Ishiyama student, but when I tried asking her what was wrong, she… spoke to me."

"What did she say?" A look of concern is on Hecadoth's face.

"She said, 'they know what you are'," I recall. "And then, she turned around." Even as I remember what she looked like, I feel a chill running through me.

"I swear, I thought she was going to kill me," I say. "She… She had this black fluid dripping from her head and lips and from various wounds in her body. But her eyes… they were blank and hollow." The image of her onyx, hollow eyes staring into my soul still burns in my mind.

Hecadoth looks somewhat surprised. "Why did she say that?" he asks me.

"I… I don't know," I admit. "I'm pretty confused as well."

Eventually, we reach the ramen shop and we seat ourselves at the counter. It seems like Oga, Furuichi, Baby Beel, and Hilda aren't here yet, but according to Izuma, they should be here in a short while. As we wait, the shopkeeper comes up to us, placing some glasses of water in front of us and asking our orders.

"The usual," Izuma requests.

I glance at the menu as Shizuka requests for miso ramen. "Tonkotsu ramen, please," I request.

Hecadoth looks confused as he glances through the menu. "What is this 'ramen'?" he asks me in confusion. "I've never even had this before."

"Just get what I'm having," I recommend. I then turn to the shopkeeper. "He'll have tonkotsu ramen."

After our orders are taken, we notice Oga, Furuichi, Baby Beel, and Hilda enter the shop. Upon seeing us, they sit next to us at the counter. "There you are," Izuma says.

"Just a question," Furuichi starts. "Why are we meeting here?"

Shizuka shrugs. "Well, we thought that some ramen might make this meeting a little less tense," she says.

After they take their orders, the four of them turn to us. "Before we start anything else, I want to ask you something, Hecadoth," Furuichi tells him. "Do demons believe in ghosts and the undead?"

Hecadoth nods, and so does Hilda. "Yes," Hecadoth says. "We demons do believe in ghosts and the undead. In fact, they play a rather large role in our beliefs and rituals for the dead. However, we have never had the same kind of, well, fascination, for ghosts like how humans seem to have."

"However, for us, a ghost is the spirit of a person who cannot find peace," Hilda explains. "Because they are unable to find peace, they roam the world of the living until the exact cause of their death has been taken care of, so to speak."

Shizuka nods slowly. "So then…"

"If a demon was murdered and their killer was never brought to justice, they won't be able to find peace until their killer has been punished," Hecadoth confirms. "Often, it's someone who has seen the ghost who is in charge of finding out the murderer and bringing them to justice."

Oga looks at the two demons questioningly. "What does this have to do with anything?" he asks.

"We're saying that this Demon of the Third Floor might just be the ghost of an actual demon," Hilda tells him. "After all, we've all sensed the demonic aura from her."

At that moment, all our ramen noodles are served, and we start eating. The delicious scent fills my nose, and for a moment, I allow myself to just be lost in the tastiness of the noodles. However, after eating for a bit, we get back to the discussion at hand.

I then slightly raise my hand up, deciding to tell them about what I saw. "Guys… I witnessed her after school today," I tell them.

Everyone looks at me in shock. "Seriously?" Izuma asks me.

I nod. "She spoke to me."

"What did she say?"

I look down as the fear fills my being again. "She told me, 'they know what you are'," I say before shaking my head. "I… I don't know what that means. Who's she talking about?"

Shizuka looks at me in shock. "No way…" she whispers. "She also spoke to me!"

"Wait, what?!" I look at her in astonishment.

"When I saw her, she had said something that I didn't understand at the time," she explains. "But now that you said this, I realize that she was warning me! She told me, 'danger awaits you'!"

Izuma looks at her in worry. "Are you saying that you may be a potential target for murder?"

Shizuka shakes her head. "I… I don't know…" she says. "I mean, I never saw anything that was off, and I don't think there's anyone who'd want to murder me."

Hecadoth turns to me. "Yumi, is there anything else?" he asks.

I slowly shake my head. "N-No… I don't know…" I say, a quiet horror bubbling in my stomach. "I never even knew about this."

Something is off. What the hell is going on now? How did the Demon know about this? Is it happening right now, without my knowing of it, or is it something that's going to happen in the future? And who is doing it? What's going to happen?

"Well then…" Furuichi trails off. "Something's not right, but it's not clear yet. However, I think that for now, Nanami-senpai and Tanaka-senpai should tell their parents about this and be on their guard for the next while."

I nod. "Yeah."

"I'm gonna call Tora to come over and stay the night with me for the next few nights," Shizuka says. "I've asked him if he can walk me home from the ramen store, and he's gonna be here in a few minutes."

I turn to Hecadoth. "We should go talk to my parents about this," I tell him. "You come too."

The rest of our meal is silent and still, with a very uneasy atmosphere in the air. Eventually, after we pay for our noodles, Toujou comes by to take Shizuka back to her home, and Izuma also leaves to go back home. Then, Oga, Baby Beel, Furuichi, and Hilda also leave, so Hecadoth and I decide to go home as well.

Throughout the walk home, I still feel uneasy and afraid, so it makes me a lot more clingy to Hecadoth, despite not being a very clingy person. While Hecadoth is somewhat surprised by this, he just holds me close to him to try and comfort me. Fortunately, we manage to make it back home without much interference.

"I'm home!" I call as we enter the house.

"Welcome back, sweetie!" Mom calls. As we remove our shoes, both Mom and Dad come in, but are surprised to see Hecadoth with me.

"Oh, good evening, Hecadoth-kun," Mom greets, giving him a slight bow.

"Good evening, Elsa-san," he greets back.

"Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?" Dad asks him.

"Er…" I interrupt. "Can we go inside and talk?"

Dad nods. "Actually, we need to tell you something that happened today," he tells me.

We go to the kitchen and sit down at the table. That's when we notice the rather grim expressions on both Mom and Dad's faces. "Is everything okay?" I ask as Mom sets down a mug of tea for Hecadoth.

Mom looks at me with a serious expression. "While you were at school today, Yumi, I was coming home from the grocery store when I found this on the door." She holds up a folded letter with my name on it.

I look at the letter in surprise. "Who's it from?" I ask.

"I don't know," she says. "But it's what's written that shocked both me and your father."

Frowning slightly, I take the letter and open it up. Upon opening it up, my eyes widen in shock at what's written.

 _Tanaka Yumi,_

 _I know exactly what you are, Konketsuji. You're nothing but a miserable half-breed that should've never been born. How dare you live like this, as a filthy cross-breed. You are a disgrace to all humans, but your father is also a disgrace to the Ishiyama Police. Tell him that if he continues snooping around, he will pay. But you will too. I cannot wait to get my hands on you._

And underneath the message is a dead rose. When I finish reading this, I slowly set it down, ice forming in my stomach. This… This is exactly what the ghost told me. Someone knows that I'm a Konketsuji.

"Oh… Oh my gosh…" I whisper in horror.

"Yumi?" Hecadoth looks at me in concern. He picks up the letter and reads through it. Just like me, his eyes widen in astonishment. "Who the hell wrote this?"

"We don't know," Dad says. "I can't believe this is happening." He runs a hand through his hair before taking my hand. "Yumi, this is not your fault at all. I don't know who the son of a bitch is, but it most definitely is not your fault. However, we need to work to make sure you stay safe."

I nod. "Okay."

Hecadoth raises his hand. "If it helps, may I stay here for the next few days with Yumi?" he asks. "I'll protect her as she sleeps."

The way he says that makes me blush deeply, but I quickly manage to regain composure due to the seriousness of the situation. Much to my surprise, Dad nods.

"Sure," he agrees. "You can stay with her. But don't even try anything on her, got it?"

Hecadoth smiles. "Of course. I'd never do anything to her that she doesn't like."

Despite this rather sweet gesture, the rest of the evening is rather tense, now that it is apparent that I'm being stalked. And it's possible that Dad might be in danger too. I start to wonder whether Shizuka is also going through the same thing right now, whether she's also received a strange letter from an unknown person. When I try to do homework, I'm just too distracted to focus on anything, only thinking about the Demon of the Third Floor, as well as this creepy letter. Something is off about these two things. How could she have known about this happening? Why is this happening? But above all, something else is nagging at me.

Could there be a connection between my unknown stalker and the Demon of the Third Floor?


	6. Chapter 6

**I have a feeling that this story may be a rather short one in terms of chapters, because I don't want to destroy the already-uneasy atmosphere I've created. Anyways, here's Chapter 6. I hope you enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6- Suspicions Confirmed**

 _I look around me in confusion. Right now, I'm standing in a familiar hallway, which is completely empty. When I look down, I notice that I'm in my uniform, but then, I glance at the clock. It's almost 5:30. I should be going home by now, why am I in the school?_

 _The hallway I'm in is the third floor hallway in St. Ishiyama, but I'm still confused. Before I can ponder this further, I suddenly realize that I'm walking in a certain direction. Yet, it's not my own free will telling me to walk. It's as if someone is controlling me to that direction… as if I'm a puppet. I walk further and further down the hallways, looking around and trying to find where exactly I'm going to._

 _Suddenly, I stop just before a corner, and I peer over it slightly. To my surprise, I see a rather muscular boy striding up to a female student, and the both of them are arguing. Even though I can't hear what they're saying, I'm able to catch little snippets of their argument. But what shocks me the most is the demonic energy I can sense from the both of them._

" _... you see?!" the guy shouts at the girl._

" _... you do… Yukimura-san…" the girl retorts, standing her ground._

 _I frown slightly as I watch the scene. What the hell is going on here? Who is that girl? Why am I seeing this? And why the hell does the guy look familiar?_

" _... shut up!" the guy snarls._

 _Before I can react further, there is a blur that sends the girl flying towards the wall. Her head hits the wall and a disturbing crack echoes in the hallway. She lets out a dazed groan, but it's only going to get worse, as the blur descends down upon her._

At that moment, my eyes shoot open as I jolt hastily upright, looking around in fear. My body is drenched in sweat again, and my breathing is fast and panicky. The panic soon goes down as I realize that I'm still in my room, and in my bed. Closing my eyes in frustration, I wipe the sweat away from my forehead before glancing at the time. It's 3:00 am, and I'm so damn tired.

"Damn…" I mumble to myself. "What the hell was that?"

It was quite the disturbing dream that I had, especially when I recall what happened. Who was that girl? And why was I having this nightmare? What could it mean?

I know that I have to be getting more sleep, but at this point, I'm pretty sure that if I try, I'll end up having another nightmare. Again, I decide to get ready for school, despite how early it is. However, I have to be careful not to wake up Hecadoth. I really don't think I want to know what a demon is like if I interrupt their sleep.

Grabbing my uniform, I quietly make my way to the bathroom to have a shower and freshen up for the day. When I'm done my shower, I brush my teeth before changing into my uniform and brushing my hair. However, I feel my body aching with exhaustion, and I know that today is going to be another long day.

Quietly, I make my way back to my room. When I enter, I see Hecadoth sleeping in the futon, his breathing steady. I can't help but admire his sleeping face for a moment. He looks so peaceful when asleep, it's almost hard to believe that he's a sadistic, bloodthirsty demon.

Treading carefully around him, I lie back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. As I stare up, my mind wanders back to the odd dream that I had. Something is off about it, but I just can't put my finger on what. I couldn't see their faces clearly, but for some reason, both the guy and the girl seemed very familiar. Also, what that guy did to the girl… it was quite disturbing. She must've gotten a rather traumatic injury from having her head slammed into the wall. Just what the hell was going on there?

"Jeez…" I sigh to myself. Should I tell someone about this dream? A part of me tells me to keep it a secret for now, but I shouldn't keep quiet about it for too long.

Eventually, my alarm starts ringing at the desired time, waking Hecadoth up from his sleep. As he stands up, he turns to face me and is surprised to see me already awake. "Yumi? You're awake?" he asks.

I nod. "Some weird-ass dream woke me up," I say as nonchalantly as I can. "And good morning to you too, Hecadoth."

Hecadoth looks at me in suspicion. "Wanna talk about it?" he asks.

I shake my head. "It's fine, I've forgotten it," I lie.

This does little to quell his suspicion, but he fortunately drops the subject as he leaves to go to the bathroom to get ready for the day. While doing so, I get my bag ready for school, checking through my History assignment and my Theatre essay that are both due today.

I suddenly hear the door opening and I turn to see Hecadoth walking in, wearing only his pants hanging low, exposing his V-line. In addition, he is shirtless and his wet hair drips lightly down his back, a towel around his neck. Upon seeing this, I feel my face heating up in surprise. Jeez, it's like I'm a lovestruck schoolgirl in a shoujo manga.

"Whoa…" I trail off.

Hecadoth smirks lightly upon seeing me blush. "Like what you see, Yumi?" he teases.

Flustered, I turn away to try and hide my face. "Oh, shut up," I retort lightly. "It's too early for this."

"You can go ahead and eat if you want," he tells me.

"Oh no, it's okay," I reassure him. As I get my things organized for the day, I sneak glances at Hecadoth's bare chest when I think he's not looking. To be honest, I'm starting to wake up a little, just by looking at him.

After breakfast, Hecadoth and I start walking to school after saying goodbye to my parents. As we walk to school, I glance at him. "So, what did the rest of the Pillar Squad say when you told them that you were staying with me for a few days?" I ask.

Hecadoth smiles wryly. "I heard enough 'good luck' wishes from them," he tells me.

I laugh. "Boys…" I shake my head, still chuckling.

However, I start to think about it. Clearly, they were teasing him about the possibility of him getting laid with me. Even though we haven't even done it yet, I find myself wondering if Hecadoth would be willing to talk about it. I've been thinking about the both of us doing it for the first time, but I'm still a bit hesitant to bring it up. Yet just thinking about it makes me blush and my heart beat faster.

It isn't long before we reach St. Ishiyama. Hecadoth gives me a smile. "Well, I'll see you soon?" he says.

"Yeah. See you soon," I tell him, giving him a short kiss before heading towards the building.

When I enter the classroom, I make my way over to my desk. "Hey," I greet Shizuka. "How was your evening?"

Shizuka sighs. "I got a seriously creepy letter from an unknown address," she tells me. "That was enough to get Tora to be staying over for a few nights."

I nod. "Me too," I say. "It was really scary, and my parents are extremely worried now. I mean, we don't even know who sent it."

"Well, I hope it stops soon," Shizuka says.

At that moment, the chime rings, signalling the start of the day. It isn't long before Satou-sensei comes in, his books in hand. "Okay, everyone," he says. "I hope you all have your assignments that were due today. I'll be coming around to collect them, so make sure you have them ready."

I pull out my assignment as he goes through the rows of desks, collecting them. When he comes around to collect mine, I quickly hand it over to him, avoiding eye contact.

As he takes my assignment and passes by me, I suddenly hear him whisper something that only I can hear.

"Pretty good for a…"

My eyes widen in surprise and I turn to look at his retreating figure. What did he just say? I highly doubt that it was a good thing. In fact, this leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, and I'm unable to focus on the lesson for today.

What did he just say? Does he know that I'm a Konketsuji? In fact, I'm seriously hoping that the chime rings for Ethics next, as I'm pretty anxious right now. Why do I get the feeling that… he knows what I am?

Classes continue to go by, but even after History is over, the uneasiness is still significant. Even Shizuka isn't too chipper about him, and I hear it from her during lunch today.

"He tried to ask me out last week, telling me that if I went out with him, I would pass his class," she tells me.

My jaw drops open. "That's sexual harassment!" I tell her. Great. Now in addition to a possibly vengeful demonic ghost and a stalker, we have a perv teacher to deal with.

Izuma looks pretty troubled by this. "Maybe I should talk to the principal about this," he suggests.

"Don't bother," Shizuka responds, her tone bitter. "I read a bit about him. He's from a rather wealthy family, so he has money and influence. Even if we try, nothing will get done."

"Che…" I shake my head in disgust.

Izuma turns to me. "You know, Tanaka, I actually read a little into that girl you had mentioned, and you're right," he says.

"Izuma-kun?" Shizuka asks.

"Her death, as well as the death of the Demon, are very similar," he tells us. "But there is something that bothers me about the various interviews I read. People who knew her said that she never seemed 'human'."

"How so?" I ask.

"Apparently, she was a delinquent in her previous school in Kobe," Izuma starts. "Both her parents were missing and she had a difficult time making friends in school. People were somewhat scared of her, and often stayed away from her."

"What was her name?" Shizuka asks.

"Shibuya Airi," I answer. "She was a second-year student who was killed in the school."

Shizuka looks down. "You know, I think I remember reading something about her in the newspaper," she recalls. "Your dad is the one in charge of the case, right? Apparently, he found out that she was being stalked for a while before being killed."

"Yeah, he told me."

"Both of you," Izuma suddenly says. "I just got a message from Furuichi-kun. He says that he, Oga-kun, and Hilda-san have found something that is quite important. So, today after school, we're going to Ishiyama to meet them."

* * *

After school finally lets out for the day, the three of us make our way out of the school when we suddenly meet Hecadoth and Quetzalcoatl by the gates. "Eh? Hecadoth?" I ask in surprise. "What are you two doing out here?"

"We've also done a little investigation into this," Hecadoth explains. "Quetzalcoatl helped me out because he's someone who knows a bit about the paranormal of the Demon World. We'll also be coming with you to Ishiyama to give some information."

"Okay then."

When we arrive at Ishiyama, we see Oga, Baby Beel, Furuichi, and Hilda waiting by the gates. Upon seeing us, Baby Beel perks up.

"Dah! Dabu!" he blabbers.

Furuichi smiles. "Good, you guys are here," he says.

"What is it that you found?" Izuma asks them.

Hilda turns towards the school. "It's still in the school, so follow us please," she requests.

Following them, we go up to the third floor of the school, making our way into a classroom. Upon entering the classroom, we see several strewn newspapers lying about. "We were told to clean this classroom up, when we discovered this in the cabinet," Furuichi explains. "A huge collection of old newspapers. Like, we don't even know where they came from."

"It may seem trivial, but we have some specific ones that we thought you'd like to see," Hilda tells us.

"It's about that girl who died," Oga adds.

"Dah!" Beel adds, as if agreeing with what Oga said.

I glance at one of the newspapers. The date reads 'November 17th, 1995', almost twenty years ago from now. In bold kanji, the headline reads, 'St. Ishiyama Student Found Dead in School Building'. The photo underneath shows a photo of none other than Shibuya Airi. Yet this photo is different, as she is wearing a rather fancy dress. Must've been from some formal event.

Hecadoth and Quetzalcoatl peer over my shoulder as I read the story.

"'This morning, a St. Ishiyama student was discovered dead on the third floor hallway of St. Ishiyama. Shibuya Airi, a seventeen-year-old second-year student, was brutally murdered last night, with the murderer fleeing the scene shortly afterwards, stealing a necklace that she wore. She suffered an attack to her head before being repeatedly and fatally stabbed by the killer, officers determined. No other witnesses were present at the crime scene. Her body was discovered by some teachers who were on their way to the staff room. Investigation is currently underway. For the safety of all students at St. Ishiyama, the Principal has issued a request that all school clubs be cancelled temporarily, and that all students go home early'."

I look up. Almost immediately, I can feel my nightmare coming back, as I recall what I saw. No doubt, the girl in my dreams is Shibuya Airi.

"What kind of motive could they have?" Shizuka asks. "Why was she killed?"

Right then, Hecadoth picks up a folder. "Oi…" he looks through the folder in surprise. "Look at these." He holds up some photos. Upon looking at them, my mouth drops open in shock.

They are amateur photos of the third floor hallway of St. Ishiyama. But that's not it. It's what is in the photos. To our shock, we see Shibuya Airi, though she is slightly shimmery. Almost instantly, the pieces click in my head. The Demon of the Third Floor really is Shibuya Airi.

"You know, I've been having these suspicions for quite some time now," I say. "But it seems like I'm right. Shibuya Airi really is the Demon of the Third Floor."


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's chapter 7. And to Devlin Dracul, don't worry :) The T rating will remain. Anyways, I hope you enjoy~**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7- Three More Victims**

As soon as the words leave my mouth, the room becomes silent and… colder.

"You're right," Hilda agrees. "The resemblance between them is too uncanny to be a coincidence. It appears that she has some demon blood in her as well."

"However, whether she is a high-class demon, a lower-class demon, or a Konketsuji, is unknown," Quetzalcoatl adds. "It's possible that she's either one of them, but in order to find out, it'll be a lot of investigation in the Demon World."

"What do you mean?" Furuichi asks.

"You see, if a demon dies while in the Human World, it's a complicated process," Quetzalcoatl explains. "The demon's corpse has to be brought back to the Demon World for investigation and a proper burial, but it all depends on whether they're high or low-class. Lower-class demons and Konketsuji are typically ignored. In the cases where they're not ignored, it's still a very lengthy search into their family history, their kind of power, the circumstances they were in up to their death, and it goes on."

"That so?" Izuma asks. "Well, let's take these with us for now. I have a feeling that this'll be pretty useful in the future."

"So, what are we going to do?" Shizuka asks.

"We should go home," Izuma says. "If anyone finds out anything more, please let us know."

Despite my suspicions finally being confirmed, I suddenly recall something that Dad told me about Shibuya Airi. She was being stalked by an unknown person at the time of her death. Not to mention, the officer in charge of her case, Kamiya Yuu, had been killed in what looked like a hit-and-run. While it may have just been a coincidence, something seems rather suspicious about his death. It seems like he was killed to be shut up, so information about Airi's killer wouldn't come out.

In addition to worrying about my own stalker, I'm fearing for Dad's safety. Because he's chosen to reopen this case, there's a chance that he might just become another victim of a hit-and-run. I don't want Dad to endanger himself because he's trying to bring Airi's murderer to justice. I don't want any more people to get hurt because of this case.

"Oh, before you all leave, has there been anything new from those stalkers, Yumi, Nanami-san?" Hilda asks us.

Shizuka looks down. "Yeah, actually," she says. Opening up her schoolbag, she pulls out a Ziploc bag with a few items in it. "I received this in the mail yesterday, and Tora also found something that was meant for me."

Inside the bag are a tissue paper with a mild discolouration, a photo of her with her face scribbled out, and a blank disc. "The tissue is actually his own… semen," she says, sounding extremely distressed. "But the disc is probably the most creepiest."

"Why?"

Fear crosses her face. "He sent me child porn…" she whispers. "The fact that I have three younger siblings makes this extremely scary and worrying. My parents were horrified when they saw this."

"Shizuka," I say, getting her attention. "This is some pretty messed-up shit. Why don't you and Toujou come and talk to my dad? He takes this sort of stuff very seriously, and you should show him those things. He might be-"

At that moment, I hear my phone ringing in my bag. When I take it out to glance at the screen, I see a number that I've never seen before. "Eh?" I take the call. "Hello?"

No one answers. Instead, I hear what sounds like an ambient piece with the strange, eerie droning noises and uncanny groans. It's truly disturbing. Staring at my phone in complete astonishment, I end the call. I know something's not right with this. No doubt, my stalker has done this.

"What's wrong?" Hecadoth asks me. "You look rather pale."

"I… I just got a call from _him_ ," I whisper. "And there was just this disturbing ambient music playing over the phone."

Hecadoth looks at me in concern, pulling me close to him. I don't do much, since I'm just too horrified to even say anything else.

"L-Let's go home…" I trail off. "Shizuka, you should come with me and report this to my dad."

Shizuka nods. "Tora should be here any moment now."

Eventually, Toujou does show up, and we all part ways to go home. Shizuka and Toujou decide to stop by at my house to talk with my dad about the strange items. As I walk, I think about how I should change my phone number to avoid calls like this in the future, and even my email address, just in case. Also, I need to brush up a bit on fighting, so I can defend myself if need be.

When we reach home, we all go up to Dad, who is working on a report. "Dad, one of my classmates has to talk to you," I tell him.

He looks up at Shizuka. "Of course. Please sit down."

Both Shizuka and Toujou sit down. "Alright, may I have your name?" Dad asks her, pulling out a notepad and pen.

"Nanami Shizuka," she says.

Dad nods. "Tell me, Nanami-san, what's going on?" he asks. "Are you here to press charges against someone?"

"Well…" Shizuka looks down. "An unknown person is stalking me. Earlier on, I received a rather threatening letter, and just recently, I received this." She hands the Ziploc bag to him.

Dad takes a look at it. "Very well then," he says. "Can you describe what's been happening? Have you been noticing anything strange?"

"Yes," Shizuka says. "This person is threatening to kill me and my family, and that disc in the bag is child porn that he sent me. In fact, I found out that my house had been vandalized a while back. But I don't know who is doing this."

Dad purses his lips. "You know, my daughter's also being stalked," he tells her. "I understand your fear. I'll keep this in mind, and I will do my best to try and put an end to this. However, because his identity is very much unknown, I can only suggest that you get some self-defense weapons, try and change something in your routine. Also," he glances at Toujou, "it seems like you've told someone about this, so that's good. Make sure you contact the police if you receive any more threatening messages, and protect your personal information. There are several help resources available, so make sure you contact them as well."

Shizuka nods. "Thank you, Tanaka-san." She then turns to Toujou. "Let's go home, Tora."

"Sure," Toujou agrees. "I swear, if that bastard dares hurt you, I'll beat him up so badly, he'll be in the hospital for the rest of his life."

Once they leave, I decide to tell Dad about the call I received. "Dad, I just received a call from an unknown number today," I tell him.

Dad looks at me in worry. "Who was it?"

I shake my head. "I don't know…" I confess. "All it was over the other end was some disturbing music. I… I think it might be the stalker."

"Well then…" Dad trails off, rubbing his forehead. "You need to change your phone number as soon as possible, Yumi. I'll help you after dinner."

Once dinner is over and my phone number has been changed, I go upstairs to lie down for a bit. As I lie down on my bed, Hecadoth sits beside me, stroking my hair. "How are you feeling, Yumi?" he asks.

I sigh. "Stressed and anxious," I tell him. "I don't know which one is more stressful right now: trying to figure out who murdered Shibuya Airi, or who the hell is stalking Shizuka and I."

"Both are equally stressful," Hecadoth says. "To be honest though, you're handling it rather well, Yumi. I'm serious."

I smile wryly. "I may look like it, but inside, I'm a mess," I admit. "I'm trying to figure out why this is happening, and how I can protect myself."

"Don't fret too much," he reassures me. "You're a capable young woman, Yumi. You know how to fight, and besides, I'm also here."

I close my eyes, smiling lightly. "Thanks."

* * *

The next day during lunch, I see Izuma and Shizuka coming up to my desk as I'm putting things away. "Ah, Tanaka," Izuma greets. "Principal Isurugi wants to talk with us right now. You, Shizuka-san, and me."

"Eh?" I wonder as we make our way to his office. "Why does he want to meet with us?"

"Don't know," Shizuka says.

When we arrive at Principal Isurugi's office, we are welcomed in. As we bow, we make sure to be standing properly. "You wished to speak with us, Principal?" I ask.

He nods. "Yes." Folding his hands on the desk, he looks at us. "I understand that the three of you have started a little… investigation into the death of a student?"

My eyes widen slightly. _How… does he know?_

"May we ask how you know?" Shizuka asks.

"Well you see, I'm fully aware that the Demon of the Third Floor is real," he says. "A while ago, I actually tried to exorcise her from the school, but it failed."

"How come?" Izuma asks.

"Well, a ghost with a demonic presence is quite difficult to exorcise, but a vengeful ghost with a demonic presence is almost impossible to get rid of," he explains.

Izuma looks down. "Yes, we are trying to find out the cause of her death," he admits. "And we are all determined to make sure that justice is served, so that she can rest in peace."

Principal Isurugi smiles slightly. "Well, I'm not going to stop you, seeing as how determined you are," he tells us. "However, I just wanted to give you something to help you in your investigation."

I raise an eyebrow. "Sir?"

Opening up a desk drawer, he hands us a few newspapers. "Look at the front pages."

These newspapers are from different months in the year following the death of Shibuya Airi. And the most eerie thing about them? In the months following her death, three people who apparently knew her had been murdered by an unknown person, and their deaths were made to look like suicides.

Izuma gives a slight bow to Principal Isurugi. "Thank you," he thanks.

When we leave, we look at each other in uncertainty. "Let's go through these names," I say, holding up one of the newspapers. "This one is from December 2003. Nojima Kumi, Shibuya Airi's landlady, was found hanging in her home. Despite initially being ruled as a suicide, the police eventually discovered that it was murder, but her body was stolen from the morgue."

"This one is from March 2004," Shizuka says as she looks at the next one. "Saionji Tadashi, a neighbour of Shibuya Airi, was found dead and floating in the river, and it looked like he had thrown himself off the bridge. Also, his body was stolen straight from the crime scene."

"What about the last person?" I ask.

"That would be in September of 2004," Izuma says. "And it is a woman named Fukuda Kaori, who was the manager of a small convenience store. Shibuya Airi was employed there at the time of her death. However, Fukuda Kaori was found in the store backroom, her wrists slit with a box-cutter. By the time the police came, she had died of blood loss. Once again, her body was stolen from the morgue."

Shizuka looks puzzled. "Why were they arranged to look like suicides?" she wonders. "And why eight to nine years after Shibuya Airi's death?"

My mind wanders back to what I heard about the original urban legend. Anyone who sees the Demon of the Third Floor would be driven mad until they commit suicide. That's when I wonder, did any of those three victims come across Shibuya Airi's ghost? But even then, why would she try to kill them? Unless…

When we arrive at the third floor, we suddenly stop in shock. Right before us, painted on the walls in dark-coloured blood, is the river kanji. "What the-?" I trail off.

"Whoa…" Izuma mumbles. Standing before us is Shibuya Airi, giving us a dead-eyed stare.

"'River'?" Shizuka repeats in surprise.

"Wait… you want us to look in the- wait, hold on!" I call out as she just walks away into the hallway before disappearing into the darkness.

"There must be something in the river that she wants us to look for," I guess.

"Well then, let's go."

We make our way out to the river, all of us curious as to why she wants us to look there. Again, there's something strange about this, and deep within my gut, I feel a premonition of something eerie.

It doesn't take too long to get to the river from St. Ishiyama. By the time we get there, the sun is already halfway down the sky, and an eerie blood-red glow is shining on the river. Almost immediately, Shizuka notices something. "Over there," she says, pointing to the left of the river bank.

Following her line of vision, at the very bottom of the river bank, we see three rusty steel barrels. "What the…" I trail off. "Where did those barrels come from?"

"Looks like they were salvaged from the river," Izuma says as we make our way over to them. "Let's see what's inside."

The lids have been rusted tight from all the time in the water, so it'll be hard to open. Izuma takes one glance at it before his arm is surrounded by demonic energy. Striking the barrel, he slices the top cleanly off before knocking it over, causing concrete to pour out onto the ground. However, something else collapses out onto the ground as well. Upon seeing what it is, we all take a step back in shock.

"Oh… oh my gosh..." Shizuka gasps, her hand flying to her mouth.

I glance at the other two barrels in worry. As if sensing this, Izuma slices the tops of the other two barrels, knocking them over. To our horror, there are two more in those barrels. And like the first one, they just collapse out. All of them are perfectly preserved.

"Fuck…" I choke out, taking my phone out.

Izuma is stunned speechless. "What the hell is this?!" he demands, alarmed.

Lying in the pools of concrete, are three perfectly preserved corpses. Two women, and one man.


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's Chapter 8. I hope you enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8- Threat**

"The bodies have been identified as the bodies of Nojima Kumi, Saionji Tadashi, and Fukuda Kaori," an officer says. "They'll be taken to the labs for an autopsy."

Dad looks at the three of us curiously. "How did the three of you find this?" he asks.

"Well-" I start, but Izuma cuts us off.

"We were on our way home from school when we noticed the barrels, and we got a bit curious," he explains. "Neither of us thought we'd find these bodies in there."

Right now, there are several police officers, all of them investigating the area for anything else. Shortly after finding those three corpses, I had called Dad, telling him about this. Sure enough, he and the other officers were very quick in arriving. However, Dad is quite curious about how we found it. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if I should tell him about the ghost of Shibuya Airi, and how we're trying to help her rest in peace. Will he believe us?

As I thought, Dad looks somewhat disbelieving. "I'm a bit unsure as to how you really found this, but I'll get to that later," he says.

"Yumi?" Right then, we see Hecadoth and Quetzalcoatl approaching us.

"Hecadoth. Quetzalcoatl," I say in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"We were actually going to meet you," Hecadoth tells me. "What's going on?"

"Ah, well…" I trail off. Lowering my voice so that he and Quetzalcoatl can hear, I tell them, "We found something that is in relation with Shibuya Airi."

"What is it?" Hecadoth asks, looking surprised.

Before I can say anything else, Dad turns to me. "How about you and Hecadoth go home for now?" he suggests. "I'll finish up here and be home soon." He then turns to Shizuka and Izuma. "The both of you should go home."

Shizuka nods. "Yeah, Tora will be here soon," she says.

"See you soon, Dad," I tell him as Hecadoth and I start walking home.

On the walk home, Hecadoth turns to me. "Tell me, what is it that you found?" he asks.

As I recall the sight of those bodies in the barrels of concrete, I feel my stomach churning in dread. "We found three bodies in three barrels of concrete," I tell him. "Even more, they are three people who knew Shibuya Airi, who were killed a few years after her death."

Hecadoth looks very serious at this. "Wait… what do you mean by that?"

"I have the newspaper of one of them," I say. "Basically, these three people were found dead, but their murders were arranged to look like suicides. However, someone stole their bodies, put them in these barrels of concrete, and disposed of them in the river."

"I see," Hecadoth muses. "When we get home, you can tell me a bit more."

Upon arriving home and greeting Mom, I make my way to the table in the kitchen to get started on my homework for the evening. Hecadoth also sits at the table, this time with a book in his hands, specifically, _Ring_. Together, the both of us sit in a comfortable silence as he reads and I do my homework.

However, I find my mind wandering to other matters. I can't help but think about the three corpses that we found today. None of us got a chance to see just how they were murdered. The circumstances of their deaths are extremely suspicious as well. All three of them have appeared to have committed suicide. And according to the report on Nojima Kumi's death, police investigation in her home have led to them finding a journal in which she had written, 'avenge Shibuya Airi. Must find her killer'.

I highly doubt that this is a coincidence. The person who killed her had the intent to shut her up. Which means that it must be Shibuya Airi's murderer who is behind this. For some reason, I find myself gripping my pencil harder as the thought crosses my mind, and I glare down at my homework. The fucking bastard… he's nothing but a coward. Killing people to shut them up? Disgusting. I truly hate cowards, but not as much as pedophiles, abusive parents, and rapists. They deserve a humiliating death, one that exposes them for the coward they are.

"Yumi, are you okay?" Hecadoth's voice brings me back to reality. "You're damaging the paper."

I look down and notice my writing suddenly looking a hell of a lot more angry and hard. "Oops…" I laugh nervously. "I was just distracted by something."

"What is it?" he asks.

I sigh. "The person who murdered Shibuya Airi is a coward," I tell him. "A miserable, fucking coward who's only going after people who are trying to bring them to justice. They deserve a humiliating death, and they can rot in hell."

Hecadoth smiles wryly. "I couldn't agree more," he tells me. "In addition to rapists and abusers, I fucking hate cowards. I've seen so many in battle, ones who sell out their comrades for their own lives, and it always disgusts me."

"But this guy is someone who murdered an innocent high school girl," I say sadly. "A girl who had dreams of going to university, finding a job, travelling the world, maybe finding the love of her life and marrying them, probably having a family, and basically living her life to its fullest. And it was cut short so brutally by some son of a bitch."

Hecadoth nods. "You know, when you say it like that, it does become a lot sadder," he notices. "By the way, are you almost done with your homework? When you're done, can we talk about those people you found in the barrels?"

I nod. "I'm done," I say, putting my pencil down.

As I pull the newspaper out from my bag, Hecadoth tells me something. "I just got a message from Quetzalcoatl a few minutes ago," he says. "He told me that he's going to have a look at the three bodies to try and find the cause of death. He's disguised himself as an investigative journalist."

"That so? But will they allow him into the morgue?" I ask.

Hecadoth smirks. "You shouldn't underestimate Quetzalcoatl," he says. "He has his way of making things happen for him."

A bead of sweat rolls down my head as I laugh nervously. "Don't tell me he's gonna hypnotize them…" I mumble to myself.

I show him the newspaper. "Here," I say. "This is Nojima Kumi, the landlady of Shibuya Airi. She died in December 2003, almost twelve years ago. She was found hanging in her home. However…" I turn the pages to find the full story. "During an investigation of her house, police apparently found a journal where she had been writing about avenging Shibuya Airi."

"Really?" Hecadoth looks surprised at this.

I nod. "However, at some point, she started writing about how she was being stalked," I add. "This unknown person was sending her death threats and breaking into her home, and she was forced to move out. Even then, this person tracked her down, somehow killed her, and then hanged her body to make it look like she committed suicide." I rest my hand on my chin. "They thought that she had gone crazy."

"I see," Hecadoth muses. "You know, that reminds me of that urban legend we had read. Wasn't there something about how people who see the Demon of the Third Floor would go crazy until they committed suicide?"

I turn my head to look at him in surprise. "You know, you're right," I tell him, astonished. "I almost forgot about that!"

"But something is still off," Hecadoth says. Suddenly, I hear a tone from what sounds like a Demon World communication device.

Hecadoth reaches into his pocket and pulls out his device. "It's Quetzalcoatl," he tells me, taking the call. "Yes?"

An expression of bemusement and surprise crosses his face at whatever the harlequin demon is saying. "That so, huh? Okay. Yeah, let's tell them next time we meet up. Yeah, it is quite strange. Got it. Thank you, Quetzalcoatl."

Hanging up, he turns his attention back to me. "Quetzalcoatl just had a look at those three corpses," he tells me. "He's found something quite peculiar on them. All of them were killed in a similar manner. They were killed by an extremely thin laceration across their chests, deep enough to kill them without spilling too much blood, but invisible to the human eye. In the Demon World, they call this a 'bloodless death'."

My eyes widen in shock as I take in this information. "What kind of weapon can do something like that?" I ask. "That's physically impossible."

"With a Human World weapon, yes, it's impossible," Hecadoth agrees. "However, there is a weapon in the Demon World that is capable of doing such a thing. It's a flammard made from the poisonous fangs of the King Hydra."

I stare at him in surprise. "Seriously?" I ask.

He nods. "So then, if these lacerations were caused by that flammard, which is only available in the Demon World, how was this person able to get their hands on one?"

As the realization hits me, I bring my hand to my chin in thought. "So then, the murderer must've been contracted to a demon of some sort!" I realize.

"That, or the murderer themselves is a demon," Hecadoth suggests. "But why would a demon put this much effort into covering up a crime?"

Before either of us can say anything else, we suddenly hear the sound of glass shattering from the kitchen, as well as Mom's startled gasp and the sound of her summoning her rapier. I frantically turn to the kitchen.

"Mom!" I gasp, shooting up from my chair. Hecadoth follows me, holding his spear at the ready in case there's an intruder.

We both run to the kitchen to make sure Mom's okay. Fortunately she seems to be okay, but in the middle of glass shards on the floor is a large rock, much to our surprise.

"Mom, are you alright?" I ask urgently.

She lowers her rapier before nodding. "I'm fine," she says.

"What the hell was that?" Hecadoth asks, picking up the rock. He raises his eyebrow. "What the…"

"What is it?" Mom asks him.

Hecadoth removes a folded letter that was attached to the rock, and hands it to me. "It's for you," he tells me.

Curiously, I open it up, only for my eyes to widen in shock as I read the message.

 _Some things in this world are better off unknown, Konketsuji. And that includes what you are doing right now. If you are smart, you will stop what you are doing, or else you shall feel humiliation and pain like nothing else. And I am very much capable of making you suffer a fate worse than death itself. Be warned._

I feel my heart pounding against my chest in anxiety as I slowly set the letter down, my hands trembling slightly. "This is an outright death threat," I whisper.

At that moment, we hear the front door opening and Dad enters the house, coming into the kitchen. "What's going on?" he asks.

"Yumi just received a death threat," Hecadoth tells him, pointing to the letter.

Shocked, Dad picks up the letter and reads through it, his eyes widening in astonishment. Mom also looks through it in horror. "Yumi… what does this person mean?" she asks me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "What are you doing that's warranting a death threat?"

I tense up at her question. It's quite clear that this person is talking about how I'm investigating the death of Shibuya Airi, but how will Mom and Dad react?

As if knowing what I'm thinking, Hecadoth gives me a look that asks me if I'd like to tell them. I nod, knowing better than to try and hide it anymore. Sighing, I look them both in the eye.

"Look, you're probably going to think that I'm crazy or whatever, but… please, listen," I plead with them.

"Of course," Dad says. "What's going on?"

"You see…" I bite my lower lip. "Recently, I've been seeing a ghost. And it's not just any ghost. It's the ghost of Shibuya Airi."

Mom and Dad look at me in shock. "Really?" Mom asks, her voice laced with surprise.

I nod. "It's not just me. Oga, Hilda, Furuichi, Shizuka, and Izuma, they've all seen her," I add. "We've also been trying to find her murderer and avenge her so that she can rest in peace. It's because her ghost has the demonic aura, and we think that if we can avenge her, then she'll be at peace."

Dad turns to look at Hecadoth. "Is this true?" he asks.

Hecadoth nods. "I haven't seen the ghost myself, but yes, we are trying to put her ghost to rest," he confirms. "We've been finding important clues to try and solve her murder. Quetzalcoatl and I have been helping them out in this."

"I'm sorry for getting myself involved," I apologize. "I didn't want to hurt anyone, I just-"

"Yumi." To my surprise, both Mom and Dad are looking at me with understanding eyes.

Mom is the first one to speak. "You know, I'm quite impressed that you're doing this," she tells me, smiling gently. "I do wish you'd told me earlier, but what you're doing is very brave. Despite the possible consequences and dangers on your life, you're still doing what is right."

Dad nods, giving me a smile. "She's right, Yumi," he tells me. "To be honest, my own investigations haven't been going anywhere right now. In addition, I might be getting some threats soon. But I'd like to hear what you've found out so far." He gives me a kiss on my forehead. "You really make me a proud father."

I smile slightly. "Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad."

Despite their reassurance, the fear in my gut has grown considerably larger after seeing this death threat towards me. However, it's not just for me, that's for sure. Oga, Hilda, Furuichi, Shizuka, and Izuma could've gotten some death threats as well. However, who could be sending them?

Right now, as I sit on my bed, reading through the threat over and over again while Hecadoth takes a bath, I feel the unease and fear slowly growing stronger. But I can't let this get to me. Otherwise this stalker will win. I have to show that I'm stronger than them, that I'm not afraid of them.

The door opens and I look up to see Hecadoth walking in shirtless, pants hanging low, and a towel around his neck. Once again, I can't help but blush as I avert my eyes. "H-How was your bath?" I ask, trying my best not to stammer.

"Felt nice," he says, sitting down next to me. I feel his hand gently touching my face before I'm turned to look at him.

"You're worried," he says. It's not a question, just a simple observation.

I sigh. "Yeah… I don't want anyone getting hurt."

He moves closer to me. "Don't worry too much," he reassures me. "Anyone who tries to hurt any of us will pay dearly, you can be sure of it."

I nod. I glance up and that's when I notice how close we are. We're quite close to each other, Hecadoth's forehead almost pressing against mine, and the atmosphere around us doesn't help. It's already night, only my bedside lamp is on, and Hecadoth is shirtless. It's very intimate and almost sensual.

Hecadoth moves my hair away from my face, running his fingers through my hair. I feel my heart beating faster again, but not out of fear. His eyes are looking into mine, silently asking for permission. I nod, slowly lowering my eyelids as he moves in closer, our lips inches apart now. And then, I feel his lips capturing mine in a heated kiss before he twists his fingers in my hair, and I lose myself in the kiss.

No matter how many times he kisses me like this, it never fails to make my knees weak and my heart pound faster. I inhale his fresh, clean scent from his bath and move closer to him, pressing my body against his. He wraps his arms around my body, holding me close to him, and my face heats up at the intimacy. We pull away and I can see the fondness in his eyes as he gently kisses my cheek.

I turn to look back at him, blushing lightly before I gently brush my lips against the tattoo on the left side of his face. "Hecadoth…" I whisper.

"Yumi…" he whispers my name in a low, seductive voice. This sends shivers down my spine and before I realize, I want more.

Right then, I close the distance between us again, kissing him passionately. He kisses me back in the same manner before deepening it. I feel myself being pushed down onto my bed, our lips still connected. We kiss some more before Hecadoth pulls away, moving his lips down my neck. I let out a slight gasp as he kisses and nips my neck in a sensual manner, his teeth lightly grazing my sensitive spot. On instinct, I run my fingers over his muscles, closing my eyes and turning my head to the side to give him better access.

"Mmm…" I hum in pleasure as his tongue slowly strokes my neck.

Right then, he bites down on my neck, and it brings me back to reality. "H-Hecadoth…" I place my hands on his shoulders. "E-Enough, please…"

As if realizing what he's doing, Hecadoth stops and pulls away, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I… I'm sorry, Yumi," he apologizes. "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

I shake my head. "I'm fine, it's just…" I trail off. "I want to go to sleep now."

"Sure." He presses his lips against mine in a sweeter kiss before kissing the top of my head. "Good night, Yumi."

"Good night, Hecadoth."

For the rest of the time in which I'm trying to fall asleep, I can't help but recall the way he kissed me. However, I try and brush these thoughts aside. I can't afford to let myself get distracted like this. My life is probably in danger right now, and I need to focus on how to protect myself.


	9. Chapter 9

**The name of this chapter is the word for 'terror' in Chichewa. Also, some trigger warnings for the content in this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9- Mantha**

Today is the weekend and we are meeting with Oga, Hilda, Baby Beel, Furuichi, Shizuka, Izuma, and Quetzalcoatl to discuss what Quetzalcoatl found on the three corpses yesterday. I change into a pair of jeans and a maroon-coloured sweater top before we leave. It's chilly outside and the snow is falling heavily from the sky, but that doesn't stop us from walking to the library to discuss this matter. We're meeting in the Ishiyama school library instead of the public library, simply because we need the privacy to discuss this.

However, on the walk to the school, my mind is stuck on a nightmare I had the previous night. Again, that same scene had appeared in my head, except the girl's face was a lot clearer. The girl was Shibuya Airi, and I was witnessing her death at the hands of an unknown person. There's something disturbing about witnessing death up close like that, even if it's only a dream.

But still, the demonic energy I could sense in that dream… does it mean that she's a demon or a Konketsuji?

As we near the four-way outside of my neighbourhood, I suddenly feel a strange sensation, one that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Stopping in my tracks, I look around nervously. However, there's no one behind me.

"Yumi?" Hecadoth questions.

I shake my head. "No, it's just… I felt something strange," I tell him.

Even as I say that, I can't help but look around me cautiously. I get the feeling that we're being watched by someone. I laugh nervously. "L-Let's just keep going," I encourage.

We manage to reach the Ishiyama school library, which is practically empty, except for the people we need to meet. However, in addition to the group sitting at the tables, we see Toujou among them. "Morning," I greet as we make our way over to them. "What's Toujou doing here?"

"He thinks he should get involved, since I'm in danger," Shizuka explains, though I see a light blush on her face as she says that.

Quetzalcoatl clears his throat. "Now that everyone's here, I think I should show you what I found on those corpses yesterday." Pulling some photos from the inside of his trench coat, he places them on the table for us to have a look at.

Peering at the photos, which are of the torsos of the corpses, I notice a thin, diagonal laceration on each of them. Each laceration seems to be rather deep, but there is surprisingly very little traces of bloodshed from them.

"These lacerations look rather thin," Furuichi observes. "But they do seem deep enough to kill them."

Oga looks confused. "How are these able to kill them?" he asks.

"Because a Demon World weapon was used to make those lacerations," Hilda tells him. "It's impossible for a Human World weapon to create such wounds."

Hecadoth nods in agreement. "It's a flammard that is made out of the poisonous fangs of the King Hydra in the Demon World," he explains. "Even the smallest scratch from that blade can severely poison you, and if not treated immediately, the victim will die a slow and agonizing death."

"Mm," Quetzalcoatl hums in agreement. "You see, when this blade creates such a light laceration, the poison is what kills the victim, and it's also what makes it almost invisible to the human eye. Only humans with a significant amount of strength or demonic power, Konketsuji, contractors, and demons are able to see these marks."

Izuma looks rather thoughtful at this. "So, all three of them had this laceration on their torsos," he muses. "However, they were positioned to look like they had committed suicide. Nojima-san had been found hanging in her home, Saionji-kun was found in the river under the bridge, and Fukuda-san was found with her wrists slit in the back of the store she managed."

"And weren't there journals in which they had written about how they had to avenge Shibuya Airi?" Shizuka asks.

"Yeah," I say. "That's right."

"But why?" Hilda questions, looking bemused. "Why go all this way to murder them with such a deadly weapon like that, and then suddenly make it look as if they themselves committed suicide?"

"That's something I don't understand either," Quetzalcoatl admits.

My mind immediately goes back to the story of the Demon of the Third Floor, where it is believed that anyone who sees her will go crazy until they commit suicide. This… it sounds almost exactly like that part of the story. Another conversation I had with Dad the previous night comes back to mind.

" _Tell me again, Dad," I say as we both clear up the table. "How exactly did the officer in charge of Shibuya Airi's case die?"_

 _Dad thinks for a moment. "The stories said that he had been killed in a hit-and-run," he explains. "However, that was just a cover-up by the media. What really happened was quite disturbing."_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _There was a thin slash across his chest and a bullet hole in his head, both post-mortem," Dad tells me. "It's strange because the laceration had already killed him. Even more, the bullet was not from his own gun, and there is no blade in the Human World capable of creating such a cut."_

 _My eyes widen in surprise. "Seriously?" I ask._

" _Yes," Dad confirms. "However, that laceration wasn't even noticed during the autopsy until I looked at the older photos that were taken and noticed it. The police were forced to say that he was killed in a hit-and-run because they were afraid of the disgrace that would happen if it came out that he had committed suicide."_

 _I slowly nod. "You know, Hecadoth told me that only a certain blade in the Demon World can create a laceration that is almost invisible to the human eye," I tell him._

" _He's right about that," Mom chimes in, setting her book down as she makes her way over to us. "The only way a human can get their hands on one is if they are contracted to a demon that uses one. There is no way they would be able to access that flammard on their own."_

 _A quiet horror seems to slowly cross Dad's face. "Then… this case is now in a completely new light," he realizes._

" _Yeah," I agree. Right then, I wrap my arms around him in worry. "Dad, please be safe." My voice is pleading, and I can feel myself choking up. "Please don't get hurt."_

 _Dad smiles as he hugs me back. "Don't worry, sweetheart," he reassures. "I won't let anything happen."_

Ever since then, I've been so worried about Dad. In fact, I've been extremely worried ever since he decided to reopen this case. Because of the death of the previous officer investigating, I'm worried that something similar is going to happen.

"Tanaka!" Suddenly, I hear a snapping sound right by my ears, and I'm immediately brought out of my thoughts. I look up and see everyone else looking at me curiously.

"Wh-What is it?" I ask, my voice becoming a mumble.

"You were kind of spaced out," Toujou tells me.

"Were you even listening to us?" Oga asks.

I shake my head. "No… I'm kind of preoccupied with something else," I admit. "I'm just worried about my dad."

Hecadoth wraps an arm around my shoulder. "Yumi?" he encourages me gently.

I sigh. "Yesterday, I found out what really happened to Kamiya Yuu, the officer who was investigating Shibuya Airi's case," I tell them.

"Wasn't he killed in a hit-and-run?" Shizuka asks me.

"That was a cover-up," I say. "What really happened was that Kamiya Yuu was murdered by the same person who murdered Nojima Kumi, Saionji Tadashi, and Fukuda Kaori. A bullet hole was found in his head, making it look like he shot himself. Actually, there was a laceration on his chest that is invisible to the human eye. At the time, everyone else thought that he had committed suicide, so that's why it was covered up. Coincidence? Hell no."

Izuma looks thoughtful for a moment. "Come to think of it," he starts. "It was around the time of that officer's death when the story of the Demon of the Third Floor started happening, especially the rumour about how anyone who sees her would go mad until they commit suicide."

"But tie in the fact that they were being stalked a while back before their deaths…" Hilda trails off.

An uneasy atmosphere hangs in the library. There's no need to doubt now. The murderer really is a demon.

"Well then, what kind of demon is behind this?" Oga asks.

"You can't really tell as to 'what kind' of demon did this," Quetzalcoatl explains. "Even we don't really know, other than the demon is most likely a higher-class demon."

"Well then, what could be a motive?" Furuichi asks.

"Maybe she did something that they considered an offense," Hecadoth suggests.

"Yeah, but for the amount of injuries on her body, it must've been one hell of an offense," I add. "I read a bit more into the autopsy details. Shibuya Airi died from blunt-force trauma to the head, and was stabbed repeatedly post-mortem. She had at least fifty stab wounds all over her body. Overkill, much?"

"That is a lot," Shizuka agrees.

"Something like that means that her killer was trying to hide something," Hilda says. "Maybe she knew something about him that he wanted to suppress."

"So then she was stalked, had death threats sent to her, and was then violently murdered one night?" Furuichi asks.

As everyone continues talking and speculating, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up slightly. I tense up and try to glance around. I can't help but feel as if someone is watching us. Immediately, my guard is up and I move my hand down to my steel fan, which I carry everywhere with me. But then, I sense a sudden spike in pressure.

"Dabu!" Baby Beel also senses it. It isn't long before everyone else stops talking, as they can all sense the demonic energy as well.

Suddenly, we hear the sound of a door slamming. Turning in shock, we see that the library door, which was previously open, has slammed shut. While this may seem like a mild scare, there's something about the way it just closed that seems a lot more sinister.

"The fuck?" Oga demands as he walks over to the door. However, when he opens the door, he steps back in shock. My eyes widen in shock as we stare outside.

Nothing but black.

"What the hell?!" Shizuka asks, her voice disbelieving.

Furuichi shakes his head slowly. "Don't tell me… we're separated from the physical world?!"

"Unfortunately, we are," Hecadoth confirms, standing up and holding his spear out. "Someone's in here."

As if sensing this, Hilda pulls out her sword, looking around her warily. I also pull out my combat knife from the fan, cautiously glancing around. I surround myself with tendrils of demonic energy, and so do Hilda, Hecadoth, Izuma, and Quetzalcoatl.

An extremely bone-chilling laugh echoes in the library and before we realize, we see a demon materializing out of a cloud of demonic energy. Once he's fully materialized, I feel shivers down my spine upon seeing what he looks like. He's wearing long black robes, and on his face is a World War II-gas mask, except the lenses are covered in black.

"What the…" Furuichi trails off.

Quetzalcoatl stares in shock at the demon. "It can't be…" he trails off.

Suddenly, the demon removes the gas mask, and I find myself stepping back in utter horror. His face is pale white, and where his eyes should be are two hollow sockets of complete black. His mouth is no more than a deep black void, save for some sharp teeth covered in blood. Simply put, this demon is terrifying.

"Holy shit…" Toujou trails off.

"Who the hell is that?!" Furuichi demands, looking utterly frightened.

"I knew it…" Quetzalcoatl says grimly. "Mantha, the demon of fear and terror."


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter is kind of based off a nightmare I had a while back. I had made the mistake of looking up what smallpox looks like, so that was one of the inspirations for this chapter. It is extremely ghastly and horrific, so be warned if you feel like looking it up.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10- Pure Terror**

Furuichi looks at Quetzalcoatl in surprise. "So that means…" he trails off.

"Yes," Hilda confirms. "He violates your mind to make you hallucinate your worst fear. It is so severe, that you'll be reduced to no more than a shaking ball of nerves before he finishes you off."

I frown. "Wow," I scoff in disgust. "What a cowardly tactic. Bringing up a person's worst fears to weaken them…"

"There's a reason why he's one of the most hated demons in the Demon World," Hecadoth says, narrowing his eyes as he holds his spear out. "No one appreciates a person who uses cowardly tactics like that."

"Say all you want about me," Mantha suddenly speaks, his voice low and eerily calm. "But I'll have you know that by the time I'm done here, not a single person will be left standing. Everyone shall be dead."

"Shut up already," Oga growled, cracking his knuckles. "Just come and fight!"

Izuma frowns at him. "Can't you sense the amount of energy he has, Oga-kun?!" he demands. "This one's dangerous. We have to be careful, otherwise we may end up paying with our lives."

Hilda's visible eye narrows as she raises her sword. Right then, we see Mantha summon his sword and hold it at the ready, waiting for Hilda to come and attack him.

Upon seeing the weapon in his hands, Hecadoth frowns. "I knew it…" he mutters. "That's the exact weapon we were talking about."

He's right. It's a flammard sword, with a black blade and a wooden hilt. A reddish glow surrounds the blade, as if warning us not to mess with him. However, this doesn't faze Hilda, who simply surrounds herself with demonic energy and runs towards him, holding her sword up.

Their blades clash and an intense battle has begun. Hilda effectively blocks most of Mantha's attacks, but she only manages to get a few scratches onto him. _He's strong…_ I think to myself. _Way too strong. We need to help her out, otherwise…_

Suddenly, to our surprise, we see Mantha's hand shoot out and touch her forehead. Hilda freezes in her tracks, her visible eye widening in horror as she starts trembling. "N-No…" she whimpers, her sword falling out of her hand.

Mantha smiles as Hilda falls to her knees. A tear falls down her face, her eyes showing nothing but pure, unadulterated terror. "M-Master… no… p-please! Don't kill the Young Master, please!" she shrieks, pleading desperately.

"What the-?! But Baby Beel's right here!" Oga says, confused.

"Dah! Dabu!" Baby Beel cries out, trying to get Hilda's attention.

"Don't tell me…" Furuichi's eyes widen in horror. "Is she hallucinating?!"

"Yes," Quetzalcoatl confirms. "It seems that her worst fear is losing Master Beel, so he's projecting it onto her."

Right now, Hilda is on the ground, sobbing and pleading with Mantha to stop. I can't help but be horrified as I watch this. This is nothing like the calm, cool, fierce wet nurse who wouldn't hesitate to die for Baby Beel. Seeing Hilda so vulnerable and in so much grief is quite heart wrenching, and even hearing her tearful pleading is just so… terrifying.

It looks like shit has really hit the fan. This guy's taken down the cool and fierce Hilda and reduced her to a terrified ball of nerves, so he most definitely is for real.

"You… You killed my Master…" Hilda sobs.

"Hilda!" Furuichi cries out to her. Running up to her, he shakes her shoulders. "It's not real, he's just fucking with your mind! Baby Beel's still alive, and he's over there! Hilda, don't let him take over you!"

"It's no use, boy," Mantha tells him. "Terror has already taken over her, so she won't listen to anyone who tries to bring her out of it."

Oga glares at him. "You bastard…" he growls. "Let's show him what we're made of, Beel!"

"Dah!" Baby Beel cheers.

They run towards him, Oga's right fist glowing. However, just before he can land an attack, Mantha strikes him in the gut, sending him flying back and crashing into an empty library bookshelf.

"Fuck…" Oga cursed, coughing slightly.

Mantha makes his way towards Oga, holding his sword up. "Too bad it's already over," he said with mock pity. "Now die."

Oga smirked up at him. "Who said it was over?" he retorted, standing up. "We were just getting started."

He charges towards Mantha again, this time managing to strike him in the face. "Zebel Blast!" he shouts, punching him. He then delivers a kick, sending him flying back a few feet.

"Now's our chance!" Quetzalcoatl shouts at us.

Hecadoth goes first. He swings his spear towards Mantha, who manages to avoid it. Narrowing his eyes, Hecadoth then plants his spear head into the ground before aiming a kick towards Mantha. He successfully strikes him in the jaw, sending him flying a few feet into another bookshelf.

Unfortunately, Mantha is unfazed by this. I tense up as he strides towards Hecadoth, and before I realize, I charge towards him, surrounded by demonic energy. From behind, I deliver a roundhouse kick, striking him in the head.

Suddenly, he turns around on me and starts advancing towards me. Feeling my glare falter, I step back warily, still holding my knife up.

"Don't touch me, you son of a bitch!" I hiss, trying to sound threatening. But it's no use.

I suddenly feel his finger tap my forehead. My eyes widen in shock as I feel a sudden force in my mind, as if it were… touching it. But then, I feel my skin tingling strangely, and I try to touch my arms… only to feel several bumps.

I look down and to my complete and utter horror… my skin is covered with raised bumps. No, large pustules with small depressions in the center. _No… it can't be!_

"You may want to have a look at yourself," Mantha advises me.

I raise my knife up to try and get a look at my reflection in the blade… only for me to drop it out of revulsion and fright. I'm… I'm covered with these pustules!

"What the fuck is this?!" I shriek in terror, rubbing at my skin frantically. Trying to reassure myself that this isn't real… but it feels almost real!

"Yumi, snap out of it!" Hecadoth shouts at me. "Whatever's going on, it's not real! Don't let it get to you!"

His voice is distant in my ears. "Don't touch me! Get the fuck away from me!" I scream hysterically, clawing away at my skin as I collapse onto my knees. Fuck, I feel like I'm going crazy. And it feels too real that it honestly makes me want to throw up.

"Who would've thought that your biggest fear is a Human World disease that had been eradicated several years ago," Mantha taunts.

"Get it off! Get it off of me!" I plead frantically.

Eventually, I stop clawing and rubbing at myself, and instead close my eyes as I curl in on myself. I don't know how to get out of this illusion. Nearby, Hilda is nothing but a shaking ball of nerves, sobbing and trembling, since she can't get the image of Baby Beel dying out of her head.

I have to get rid of these bumps. It's ghastly, it's repulsive, it's nothing but pure body horror! I have to get rid of them! I'll be damned if I let them remain on my body like this!

I start scratching furiously at my arms, trying to ignore the disgusting feel of the pustules. I don't care if my skin breaks or if I start bleeding, I have to get rid of them!

Distantly, I can hear the sounds of the fight going on and from the corner of my eye, I see Furuichi running over to Hilda. Suddenly, I feel two hands take hold of my shoulders and when I look up, I see Hecadoth right in front of me, much to my shock.

"Yumi!" he shouts at me.

I squeal in fright and crawl away from him. "No! Don't touch me!" I cry. "It'll spread to you!"

"There's nothing on your skin, Yumi!" he shouts. "It's a hallucination, he's just fucking with you! Whatever it is that you're afraid of, it's already gone!"

"Go away! I don't want you to be infected!" I plead.

I feel his hand gently caress my face. "It's not real, Yumi," he tells me, his voice gentler now. "I don't feel anything."

Slowly, I feel the normalcy returning to my skin. The bumpy feeling slowly starts to fade away, going back to being smooth. "H-Hecadoth…?" I whisper, looking up at him.

"It's not real," he reassures me. "It's all gone, Yumi."

I look down at my arms, and he's right. All of the pustules are gone. I touch my face and sure enough, those bumps are gone. But just to be sure, I take a glance at my reflection in my knife. "I-It's all… gone…" I sigh.

Looking back at Hecadoth, I throw my arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you…" I thank him sincerely. I feel tears in my eyes, but I manage to get rid of them. I then feel his arms wrap around me in a hug.

Meanwhile, we see Mantha slowly approaching Hilda, who's gone silent. "You're truly pathetic," he taunts her. "I expected so much more from the wet nurse of Prince Beelzebub. Yet the moment the thought of your precious Master dying crosses your mind, this is what you become. A weak, crying little bitch." He brandishes his flammard before her.

"But that doesn't matter," he continues. "Prepare to die, wet nurse."

Suddenly, as he brings his sword down onto her, her own sword comes up and clashes with his. Right then, Hilda raises her head, and we can see pure rage in her visible eye.

"The joke's on you, Mantha," she retorts. "It's thanks to our tactician that your hallucination was stopped." A wry smirk crosses her face. "Die, you son of a bitch."

She charges at him, her blade clashing with his. Nearby, we see Izuma, Shizuka, and Toujou lying on the ground, having been defeated by Mantha. Oga, Baby Beel, and Quetzalcoatl join Hilda in trying to defeat him, and Hecadoth and I also decide to try and fight him.

At this moment, I decide to try out a new move on him. Raising my sword and transforming into demonic energy, I make my way onto the wall of the library, landing on it. "Darkwave Purgatory!" I shout, launching myself off the wall and charging at Mantha, delivering a strike across his face.

This is successful, as it gives an opening for Hecadoth to strike him. However, much to my dismay, Mantha turns and stares at me.

"Bitch…" Suddenly, I feel his hand grasp my neck before he throws me into the wall.

I cry out in pain as I feel a faint ringing in my head. Within the blink of an eye, Mantha is in front of me, his flammard raised and ready to strike me. Instinctively, I close my eyes, but my hand that's holding my knife moves on its own.

Hearing a strangled gasp of shock, I open my eyes slightly. However, upon seeing what I've done, my eyes widen in astonishment. My knife is embedded in Mantha's chest, blood already starting to seep from the wound. I gasp as I pull the bloody knife out, looking at Mantha in horror as he falls over, blood pouring from his mouth.

I look around and everyone else is looking at me in shock. "Oh… Oh my gosh…" I whisper as the realization sinks in.

I killed someone. Sure, he wasn't an innocent person, but… I killed a person. Their blood is on my knife.

Glancing down at his dead body, several emotions wash over me. Guilt, horror, and nausea. My stomach turns and I force myself not to get sick.

"Yumi!" Hecadoth runs up to me. "Are you okay?"

I slowly shake my head. "N-No… I… I need to sit down…"

Hecadoth helps me sit on a chair and I feel his arm wrap around my shoulders.

"Oi, what's wrong with her?" Oga asks.

"She's in shock," Furuichi tells him. "I mean, you saw what happened. She just killed Mantha."

Hilda walks up to Mantha's dead body and picks up his flammard. "This is the weapon," Hilda says, showing it to Shizuka, Izuma, Toujou, Oga, Baby Beel, and Furuichi. "The one that we were telling you about."

Quetzalcoatl glances out at the door. "It seems like we're back," he says.

We look, and sure enough, the hallway is back.

After seeing this, Hilda makes her way to the door, with the flammard in hand. "Let's go, everyone," she tells us. "We'll discuss this somewhere else."

"But what about his body?" Shizuka asks. "We can't just leave him here."

"I'll take care of it," Quetzalcoatl reassures. "You can all go ahead."

As Quetzalcoatl takes care of Mantha's body, we all leave the library. However, the entire time, my hands are shaking and my chest is aching so damn much. It's quite clear that this is going to stay with me for a while, no matter how hard I try to move forward. How are Mom and Dad going to react? How is this going to reflect on me?


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's chapter 11. And to Devlin Dracul, Furuichi had basically done something a little similar to what Hecadoth had done to help Hilda get out of her shock. He shows Hilda that Baby Beel is alive and tells her that he's in trouble. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11- Guilt**

"What's happened to the body, Coatl?" Furuichi asks as Quetzalcoatl exits from the school.

"Oh, I took it back to the headquarters for an examination to be done by Furcas-sensei," Quetzalcoatl tells us. "The results should be back in a few days, so I'll let you all know when they do come back."

Hecadoth glances at me for a second before turning back to everyone else. "Maybe we should call it a day," he suggests.

"That's probably a good idea," Furuichi agrees.

Hilda nods. "I need some quiet time to myself as well," she adds, her voice soft. It's quite clear that she's still affected by Mantha violating her mind as well.

"Okay then," Oga says. "Let's go, Hilda." The three of them start making their way home, with Hilda taking the flammard with her.

Likewise, Toujou and Shizuka also leave to go home, and Quetzalcoatl also leaves shortly afterwards. Hecadoth takes my hand as the two of us start walking home.

Throughout the entire walk home, I'm silent. I allow my mind to wander to the events that happened in the school library. Basically, we discovered that there is indeed a demon who was behind it, and it's quite clear that he's the one who killed Nojima Kumi, Saionji Tadashi, and Fukuda Kaori. But who would've thought that that demon, Mantha, would be such a sadistic and terrifying bastard?

He mind-raped both Hilda and I, and made us hallucinate our worst fears. Hilda had thought that her beloved Young Master was being tortured and killed in front of her, and I was made to believe that I had smallpox… God, I don't think I can ever erase that image from my head. Those horrifying pustules covering my body…

Why am I terrified of smallpox, you ask? Well, I had a nightmare about having it a while back, and the fact that I also have trypophobia really didn't make it better. I was afraid that those pustules would break and leave holes in my body, just like what happened in that nightmare.

It was honestly the most terrifying thing I've ever had to live through. Is this what he did to those three people before he killed them? I hate to think about it. My mind feels… violated and broken, and my nausea still hasn't gone away completely. I still remember how I accidentally stabbed Mantha, and I feel my head hurting even more than ever.

I killed someone for the first time. Say whatever you want, that I was simply defending myself, that I killed a demon and not a human, but it doesn't change the fact that I killed someone. That his blood is on my hands and my blade. What are Mom and Dad going to say about this? Will they still love me, or will they be horrified at what I've done?

Briefly, I wonder what Hecadoth thinks of this. He's a soldier, a man of war. He's gone into battle many times before, so he must've killed as well. What does he think of me, now that he saw me kill someone? What was it like for him to kill someone for the first time? Did he have the same reaction as me?

"How are you feeling?" Hecadoth asks me gently.

I shake my head. "Not too great…" I admit. "I just… I need some time to myself…"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"When we get home."

"Got it."

We continue walking in silence, Hecadoth respecting my wish to talk later. I feel his hand gently squeeze mine in an attempt to comfort me. Glancing down as he does so, I look back up and see him smile at me. I can't help but feel touched, and I feel a small smile playing at the corner of my lips. It lasts for a brief moment before I turn my gaze back to the ground.

When we arrive home, I greet Mom and Dad in a solemn manner. "I'm back," I say.

"What's up?" Dad asks me, looking at me in concern.

Hecadoth looks slightly uneasy. "Something happened in the library that's affected her a bit," he tells him. "We'll explain a little later."

I make my way to my room and Hecadoth follows me. "Tell me, Yumi," he starts as he sits next to me on my bed. "What exactly did Mantha make you hallucinate?" he asks me.

I tense up as I remember what he did to me. "He…" I start. "He made me hallucinate that I had severe smallpox. It's something that I'm honestly terrified about."

"Smallpox… what is that?" he asks, looking confused.

"It's an extremely deadly disease that's killed millions of people all over the Human World throughout history," I explain. "If you're curious as to what it looks like, you can try and search for an image, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's been eradicated, fortunately, but it's not a pretty sight to look at. It's essentially real-life body horror."

"Can you describe it?" he asks.

"Basically, you're covered in large pustules with small depressions in the center," I tell him. "As I said before, it's extremely ghastly. That's why I was freaking out back there. But my mind…" I rub my forehead. "It feels violated now, and I hate it. I hate how weak I was back there."

Hecadoth wraps his arm around my shoulder. "Don't berate yourself like that," he tells me, gently pressing his lips to my forehead. "Mantha's mind-violation technique does this to everyone who gets affected by it. It's not your fault."

Later on, when I sit to eat dinner with Mom, Dad, and Hecadoth, I'm unable to eat. My mind is still stuck on what happened in the library, when I killed Mantha. Just thinking about it makes my stomach turn and my heart grow heavy. As they all talk amongst each other, I remain silent, lost in my own thoughts. Briefly, I wonder whether either Mom, Dad, or Hecadoth have experienced the same thing that I'm going through right now.

"Is something wrong, Yumi?" Mom asks, bringing me out of my thoughts. "You've hardly touched your dinner."

"S-Sorry…" I apologize. "I'm just a little preoccupied with something."

"What's up?" Dad asks.

I sigh, deciding to ask the question I've been thinking about. "What does it feel like to kill for the first time?" I ask.

Mom and Dad look very surprised at this question. Even Hecadoth looks a little bemused.

"Where's this coming from?" Mom asks.

I shrug. "Just curious," I lie, turning my gaze to Hecadoth. "I want to know what it was like for you, Hecadoth. Because you're a soldier, and you've been in combat before, so you'll probably have an idea."

Hecadoth nods slowly. "You're right," he starts. "The first time I killed someone was in combat a few years ago, when we were defending the Great Demon Lord's castle from an enemy army. I'll admit, it shocked me when I realized that I had killed someone for the first time. I had speared them after being kicked down and he was about to deliver the death knell."

"What were you like afterwards?" I ask.

He sighs. "I felt somewhat bad for it," he admits. "The man I killed probably had a family, had a life of his own, and they would probably be calling for my blood if they found out that I killed him. And to be honest, I had a slight fear of being haunted by him. I told Laymia about this, and she helped me move forward. Basically, she told me that it's either they die or I die, and that it's my duty as a soldier. And sometimes, it's better to take the life of an enemy, rather than letting him live and allowing innocent people to die."

"What about you, Dad?" I turn to Dad.

Dad purses his lips, looking somewhat reluctant. "The first time I killed was when we still lived in Vancouver," he tells me. "You were very young, and at the time, we were trying to resolve a hostage situation, in which the criminal was going to shoot the hostage in front of us. However, he instead opened fire on us and out of shock, I pulled the trigger on my gun and shot him in the head." He rubs his forehead. "I was stunned speechless and I felt somewhat guilty for shooting. However, my boss gave me a heart-to-heart talk afterwards, saying that I did the right thing even if it was instinctive. Again, sometimes I have to use force if it gets messy, otherwise more innocent lives will be taken."

I nod slowly. "That so, huh…"

Dad gently takes my hand. "Something is bothering you, Yumi," he says. "What happened? Please tell us."

I glance at Hecadoth and he gives me a nod, as if telling me that it's for the best. Looking down, I sigh. "Today, when we went to the library in Ishiyama to discuss something…" I start.

"Go on," Mom encourages.

"We were attacked by a demon called Mantha," I explain. "He mind-raped Hilda and me, making me hallucinate that I was having smallpox, and it really almost drove me crazy. But that's not what's been bothering me." I look up. "When he was about to attack me, I accidentally stabbed him in the heart."

Both Mom and Dad are quite shocked to hear this.

"I know, I was shocked too," I tell them. "I didn't want to kill him, but he was about to kill me and my hand that held my knife just moved on its own! I know it's probably not a valid excuse to kill him, but I just… it was instinct and… wow, I can't believe what I'm doing…" I start rambling out of frustration. "I can't believe I'm trying to justify killing someone, how-"

"Yumi." I stop rambling and look at Mom.

"Listen to me," she starts. "We're not going to hate you, if that's what you're wondering. You did what you had to do to save yourself and everyone else. It's like what Hecadoth and your father said. It's either he dies, or all of you die."

"You're not a monster, Yumi," Dad tells me. "You're able to show remorse for what you did, which is enough proof that you're not a psychopath. Besides, if you're going to be a police officer, you'll have to make these kinds of decisions."

"They're right," Hecadoth says. "What you did saved everyone, even if it wasn't what you intended to do. Don't berate yourself for this, okay? It's not your fault."

I nod. "Okay…"

Feeling somewhat better, I eat my dinner before going upstairs to get ready for bed. After my bath, I change into my pajamas before doing some homework. Even though I feel a little less horrible about what happened, my mind is still haunted by what happened with Mantha, and how I was mind-raped by him. My skin still tingles every time I think about what happened.

When I try to fall asleep at night, my dreams are haunted by the horrific illusion I was forced to experience, and I wake up in shock, jolting out of bed. My heart is pounding hard against my chest, and I feel sweat all over my body. I look around my room and rub my arms to reassure myself that it's just a nightmare before sighing in frustration.

"Fuck you, Mantha…" I whisper in anger, feeling tears in my eyes. A soft sob escapes from me as a tear falls down my cheek. This is probably the fifteenth nightmare I've had tonight, in which I have smallpox again. I seriously hate him for this.

"Yumi?" I turn to my right and see Hecadoth, now awake, getting out of his futon. "What's wrong?"

"These fucking nightmares…" I tell him, my voice low yet frustrated.

He sits next to me and that's when I notice that he's shirtless, wearing only his sleep pants. "Wanna talk about it?" he asks me.

I bring my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them, resting my chin on top of my knees. "I had smallpox in them," I say. "This is like, the fifteenth nightmare tonight, and I'm sick of it. It's all because of Mantha that this is happening." I lower my eyes. "My skin is still tingling from that hallucination I had."

I feel Hecadoth wrap his arms around me and pull me close to him, my head pressed against his chest. He doesn't say anything, he just sits next to me and holds me close to him, which is what I need, honestly. I hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, which slowly calms me down. I also feel my face heating up as I feel his hand slowly rubbing my back.

Right then, I lift my head up to look at Hecadoth, and I'm surprised to see that he's rather close to me. Already, our lips are rather close. I notice that he's staring at my lips, and I can't help but close the distance between us, connecting our lips together in a gentle kiss.

Hecadoth kisses me back, gently holding my face in his hands as I wrap my arms around his neck. He kisses me slowly and gently at first, but then I feel his tongue licking my lower lip, asking me permission for more. I open my mouth a bit more, deepening the kiss as he now wraps his arms around my body. As we kiss passionately, our hands become more intimate and start exploring each other's bodies.

I let out a quiet moan as I feel myself slowly growing aroused. I can't help but want him so badly and I know that I'm ready for this. Slowly pulling away, I look at Hecadoth in the eye.

"Touch me," I tell him gently.

Hecadoth looks at me in surprise. "Are you sure about this?" he asks me. "I don't want to hurt you."

I nod. "I trust you, Hecadoth." I smile at him. "Please, don't stop."

He smiles back at me. "Let's try and keep it down."

He then kisses me once more before gently pushing me down onto the bed. As I kiss him back, I feel his hands sliding underneath my shirt, and I pull away to allow him to remove it. It doesn't take too long before all our clothes are removed and on the floor.

"Yumi… So beautiful…" he whispers.

"Hecadoth…" I pull him down for a kiss, which he eagerly returns. After kissing passionately for a few minutes, he pulls away and moves his lips down my body, and I close my eyes, moaning softly.

Right now, my mind is far away from the events of yesterday, and far away from those nightmares. I focus on this moment, allowing myself to be lost in the feeling of Hecadoth's touches and kisses, and I allow myself to be swept away by his seductive whispers. Soon, our bodies move together in an intimate dance, and he holds my hand tightly, never letting go. And I hold on just as tightly for the rest of the night.


	12. Chapter 12

**I am so, so sorry for the late update. I've just been so busy with homework and projects, and to top it all off, I'm having severe writer's block in ending this story. I haven't forgotten about it, however. I apologize again, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12- Trophies**

Various thoughts are running through my head as I walk to school today with Hecadoth. I'm unable to maintain steady eye contact with him because everytime I look at him, I always remember our first time last night. Of course, he made sure to use protection, which I'm incredibly grateful for. It had felt quite amazing, and I'm always recalling how he had kissed and touched me so many times. Afterwards, he held me in his arms and I had a peaceful sleep next to him.

However, there's something else that's bothering me, something that I had been mulling over last night. What is up with Mantha? Where did he come from, and how did he know us? I highly doubt that him attacking us was a mere coincidence yesterday. We were clearly his intended targets. Was he trying to kill us to shut us up? The more I think about it, the more uneasy I feel.

"What do you think? About Mantha's attack yesterday?" I ask. "There's something about it that's just not sitting with me. I don't think that this attack was something out of the blue. I have a feeling that he fully intended to kill us."

Hecadoth muses over this. "You might be right," he tells me. "There's no way that this is a coincidence. The fact that he had the weapon that was used to kill those three humans makes this rather suspicious."

That's when I start to wonder, could this guy have somehow been involved in the death of Shibuya Airi? If he was willing to kill the people who knew her, then I don't think he would've hesitated to hurt her in some way.

Soon, we arrive at the school and after saying goodbye to Hecadoth, I make my way to the classroom. Perhaps I should mention this to Izuma and Shizuka. Once I arrive in the classroom and take my seat, I turn to face the both of them.

"So, anything new yet?" I ask Izuma and Shizuka as we wait for class to start.

"Nothing yet," Izuma says.

She frowns. "I got several threatening calls from my stalker," she tells me. "This is seriously getting creepy, and I don't even know who it is."

I think for a moment. "You know, I was kind of bothered by Mantha last night," I recall. "Like, how did he know us, and why was he trying to kill us?"

"What do you mean?" Shizuka asks me.

"I don't know, really," I admit. "But for some reason, I have a bad feeling about him. I don't think that the attack was a random one. Think about it, he had the weapon that was used to kill those three people. I highly doubt that this was a coincidence."

"But even then…" Before Shizuka can say anything further, the chime rings, signalling the start of class. I make a mental note to continue this conversation during lunch with Shizuka and Izuma.

However, after class, before the three of us can have our lunch, we suddenly see Satou-sensei coming up to us. "May I have a word with the three of you?" he asks.

I look at him suspiciously as Shizuka raises an eyebrow and Izuma frowns slightly. "What is it, sensei?" Izuma asks.

"I've recently heard that the three of you are investigating into the death of a St. Ishiyama student," he tells us. "Why are you doing that?"

My eyes widen in shock. How does he know about this?

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"Well, I've overheard you discussing things about her murder these past few days," he tells us. "You should know better than to do that." He frowns at Izuma and Shizuka. "You know, I expected better from the both of you, Izuma Kaname and Nanami Shizuka. All of you should know better than to pry into things that don't involve you."

Shizuka frowns slightly. "What do you mean by that?" she asks.

He glances at her. "Because trying to find out things that are of no concern to you may be the end of you," he tells her. "Especially you. And we'd like to have your purity intact."

My eyes widen in shock and I see Shizuka look down uncomfortably. Did this guy just _slut-shame_ her?

"Excuse me." I stand up from my seat, frowning coldly at him. "Did you just try to slut-shame Shizuka? Are you implying that it's Shizuka's fault that men may stare at her?"

Satou-sensei looks at me with an unreadable expression. "How could you assume that, Tanaka-san?" he asks me.

"It was quite clear in your voice," I tell him sternly. "I don't know what kinds of beliefs you have about women, but they are quite sexist to me. We were just trying to help out the police in solving her murder."

Satou-sensei gives me a strange look. "How dare you talk to your teacher like that?"

"No," Izuma cuts in, sounding deathly calm. "How dare _you_ talk to your female students like that? Please, if you're done talking, we'd like to have our lunch in peace."

He frowns at us. "I'll let you all off for now," he says, walking out of the room. "But I'll warn you. You shouldn't go poking around in things that are none of your business. Afterall, curiosity killed the cat."

Once he's gone, I stare at the door in disbelief. "What the hell was that?" I ask.

"Something about him seems a little off to me," Izuma muses. "I don't know what exactly, but there is definitely something strange about him."

Shizuka nods in agreement. "I agree, I'm a little disturbed by him," she says. "I always notice him looking at me weirdly, and I don't know why he's looking at me like that. It's starting to scare me, honestly."

Already, I've lost my appetite. "You know what, how about you guys go ahead and eat," I tell them. "I'm gonna go for a little walk."

Before they can say anything else, I make my way into the hallway. Much to my surprise, the hallway is completely empty. _What the…?_ Why is it empty? It's only afternoon! Usually, there are some students hanging out here at this time but it's completely empty now!

However, before I can do anything, I suddenly feel a sharp chill before an eerie sigh echoes in the hallway. I tense up as I feel a presence of demonic energy behind me. Slowly, I turn around to see the Demon of the Third Floor, no, Shibuya Airi, standing a few feet away from me.

Oddly enough, I don't feel the same fear that I felt when I saw her in the past. Sure, I do feel a little bit afraid, but it's not extreme paranoia.

Her head is lowered and she seems almost sad, for some reason. I hesitate a little, wondering how I should address her.

"Airi-chan," I say. She doesn't move away or disappear.

"Airi-chan, I know that you have some demonic blood in you," I tell her. "Tell me what you are. Are you a Konketsuji?"

She slowly shakes her head.

I frown. "Are you a contractor?"

Again, she shakes her head slowly.

That's when it hits me. "You're… a demon." It's not a question, just a statement of realization.

Airi-chan gives me a nod of confirmation. I look down as shock slowly sets in. So… Airi-chan really is a demon. But what kind? I have a hunch that she's a lower-class demon.

"You're a lower-class demon, right?" I ask her cautiously.

She nods again before walking away. For some reason, this realization horrifies me. I don't know why exactly, but the fact that Airi-chan was a lower-class demon who was likely murdered by Mantha seems to cross straight into being a hate crime. Suddenly, the dream I had a while back comes full force.

Mantha was the blur who attacked Airi-chan in my dream. But who was the other guy, the one who was arguing with Airi-chan? Could he be the contractor of Mantha? Too lost in thought, I fail to notice that Izuma and Shizuka are in the hallway as well.

"Tanaka-san?" Izuma brings me out of my thoughts.

I turn around. "Yeah?"

"What happened?" Shizuka asks.

I make my way back to the classroom. "Airi-chan… she's a lower-class demon," I tell them. "She confirmed it with me."

They look at me in shock. "You saw her?" Izuma asks me.

I nod. "I don't know why, but the hallway was empty when I walked out," I tell them. "And then, I felt her presence and that's when I saw her."

Izuma looks surprised. "Well then, this case has been put in a new light completely," he says. "I was going to tell you that I received another message from Furuichi-kun. We have to meet them after school. It seems like Quetzalcoatl found something that's rather important."

As I sit down in my desk, I notice Shizuka looking at me curiously. "Why'd you call her 'Airi-chan'?" she asks.

"Well, I thought that if I addressed her as if she were a friend, she might tell me something," I explain before letting out a sigh. "I don't think I've ever felt this confused or worried before. Now that it's been revealed that she's a lower-class demon, I don't know how the hell this is gonna turn out."

Shizuka nods. "I know, even I'm a bit scared," she admits. "This is just getting stranger and stranger."

The rest of the day seems to drag on forever, simply because of the anxiety I'm feeling. While I do my best to pay attention to my classes, I'm unable to do so. When school finally ends, the three of us make our way to the entrance, where we see Oga, Baby Beel, Furuichi, Hilda, Toujou, Hecadoth, and Quetzalcoatl waiting for us.

"You said that you found something rather strange?" Izuma asks Quetzalcoatl as we leave the school building.

Quetzalcoatl nods. "Yes," he says. "I had received a message from Dr. Furcas, who asked me to meet him at headquarters in the Demon World. As it turned out, he had analyzed the body of Mantha and found a few peculiar items on him."

"What does that mean?" Shizuka asks curiously.

"I mean, these items clearly did not belong to him," the harlequin demon explains. "But this is probably the most shocking thing I found on him." Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a golden heart locket and opens it up. "Have a look."

My eyes widen in shock. "Airi-chan!"

Sure enough, in the locket is a photo of Airi-chan. There's no doubt that this was once Airi-chan's locket.

"Where did he get this from?" Toujou asks.

"You know, my dad says that some serial criminals like to take something from their victims as keepsakes or trophies," I tell them. "Seems like that son of a bitch likes to do that as well."

"What are the other items you found?" Hecadoth asks him.

"Right." Quetzalcoatl shows four more items from his pocket. The first one is a men's watch, the second is a gold wedding ring, and the third is a charm bracelet.

"These are the ones that stood out to me," he tells us. "I have an idea as to who they might belong to."

I nod. No doubt, those belong to Nojima Kumi, Saionji Tadashi, and Fukuda Kaori.


	13. Chapter 13

**I apologize for the very late update. I'll be honest. I'm starting to get into newer anime and manga like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Tokyo Ghoul, and I'm not as obsessed with Beelzebub as I used to be, sadly (ah, I miss the good old days). That's why I'm trying to wrap up this story as quickly as I can before I write for a different fandom. That being said, this is the second-to-last chapter. Enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13- Cistern**

Right then, I remember that I have to tell them something else. By now, we've managed to reach a quiet place to talk. Specifically, at a half-empty café, where there aren't any other customers.

"I saw Airi-chan's ghost today again," I say, getting everyone's attention. "I managed to find out that she's a lower-class demon."

Hecadoth frowns. "I knew it," he says. "I had a hunch that she was either a Konketsuji or a lower-class demon. How were you able to find out, Yumi?"

"When I saw her ghost in the hallway, I asked her," I explain. "I even called her 'Airi-chan' because I thought that if I addressed her as if she were a friend, then she would probably explain herself more."

"Is that so?" Quetzalcoatl asks.

I nod. "Also, there's something else that's been bothering me," I admit. "It's about Mantha, that demon that attacked us."

"Yeah?"

"Like, I highly doubt that this attack was just a random attack," I say. "Think about it. That guy is the one who murdered those three people. He had the weapon that killed them, and he had personal items that belonged to them as trophies."

Furuichi nods. "Yeah, I agree," he adds. "Something about that Mantha guy really doesn't sit with me. The attack on us doesn't feel like a random attack at all. It seems like it was planned from the beginning, especially considering how he separated us from the real world to make sure we couldn't escape."

"That's true," Izuma says. "The fact that he had us separated from the physical world clearly shows that he had this planned from the beginning. But even then, why would he want to kill us?"

"It's not like we did anything to personally offend him, right?" Shizuka asks.

"He's probably only doing it for shits and giggles," Toujou guesses.

"You're wrong about that," Quetzalcoatl says. "I also had Furcas do a little search into Mantha just to be sure. And you know what? He found that Mantha was a hitman."

My eyes widen in shock. "A hitman?"

Quetzalcoatl gives a small nod. "He wouldn't kill those three humans, or Shibuya Airi, or even attempt to kill us unless he had received orders to do so," he says.

Oga looks very confused. "The fuck? Which demon has such a big problem with us that he sent that bastard to kill us?" he demands.

"Yeah, I agree," Furuichi adds. "It's not like we did anything to get on a demon's bad side, did we? And even if we did, what did we do, and who got offended?"

"I have a feeling that Mantha was a contracted demon," I mention.

Hecadoth turns to Quetzalcoatl. "Have you checked through the contract history?" he asks.

"I've already asked Furcas to do so, but it'll take a while to get some results, most likely a couple of days," Quetzalcoatl tells him.

"How come?" Furuichi asks.

"Contracting with demons goes a long way back," Hilda explains. "This goes back as far as to the beginning of human civilization. It'll take days, sometimes weeks, occasionally months, or even a whole year before anything comes up."

"For now, let's assume that Mantha was contracted to a human," Izuma starts. "Is it possible that this human was involved in the murder of Shibuya Airi?"

I think for a moment. Most likely, they would be. But still, what could be the motives for killing her? From the state that her body was found in, it seems like it could be a hate crime, that the human hated demons and wanted her dead. However, that makes no sense, because if the human hated demons, then why would they be contracted to Mantha?

Right then, we see Shizuka raising her hand. "I just remembered something," she says.

We all turn to her as she starts speaking.

"I had a look at one of the newspapers from the year of Shibuya-san's death, and I remember reading something quite odd in there," she starts. "Shibuya-san's body was stolen shortly after the autopsy was made. That happened a few days after her death."

I look at her in surprise. "Her body was stolen?" I repeat.

Shizuka nods. "No one knows who stole it," she says. "But that was one of the main reasons why her case was such a mystery. It only became worse after Kamiya Yuu died while investigating her death. People began claiming that when she died, she placed a curse in the hopes that her murderer would die soon."

I purse my lips. No doubt, Mantha probably stole Airi-chan's body from the crime lab and disposed of it somehow. But where did he dispose her body?

"Before we start speculating again, I think we should go home for the night," Quetzalcoatl suggests. "It's getting a little late, and I suppose that you're all tired. We'll probably be able to do a lot better if we get some rest tonight."

"That's a good idea," Oga yawns. "I'm tired…"

"Dabu…" Baby Beel agrees.

We all part ways and leave the café to make our way home. As Hecadoth and I walk home, I feel an uneasiness in my gut. I feel like there's so much more to this case than what it seems, and things are really taking a dark turn as we discover more and more mysteries. The fact that Airi-chan's body had been stolen really doesn't make things better.

There's another thing that's bothering me. If we do find the murderer of Airi-chan, what are we supposed to do to him? Does she expect us to kill them on her behalf? Because she's a lower-class demon, I highly doubt that she'll be satisfied with him being arrested. She wants revenge, which means murdering the murderer. The main problem with that, though, is that it's a crime. Unless we can find a way to justify killing him, how the hell are we going to explain this to the cops?

"What are you thinking about?" Hecadoth asks me.

"I just have a really bad feeling right now," I tell him. "Something's really off about this whole case. The way Airi-chan was found, it appears like it could be a hate crime. However, if the murderer really hated demons, then why would they form a contract with a demon?"

"Maybe they hate lower-class demons," Hecadoth suggests.

"Also… I was wondering how we're going to help Airi-chan get revenge," I continue. "She's a lower-class demon, and she definitely wants revenge. I don't think she'll be satisfied if we simply turn the murderer into the police."

Hecadoth nods. "You're right about that," he tells me. "Demons love bloody revenge, they won't be satisfied with just a simple arrest."

"But there's no way we can kill someone as revenge in the Human World," I tell him. "It's a crime, and it'll affect us for the rest of our lives. We could get arrested and put in jail for something like that."

"That's true," he says. "However, would it work if we were able to send evidence to the police?"

"I don't think so," I respond. "Even if we tried, we'd still face a lot of charges with murdering someone. It'd be a miracle if we're able to avoid prison, and even then, we'd probably be torn apart by the media and the public."

"Maybe we should discuss this a little later when everyone else is present," Hecadoth suggests. "That way, everyone else can provide their opinions on this and maybe offer some suggestions."

I nod. That's a pretty good idea. It would be best to discuss this with everyone else and see what they think. Who knows, maybe we'll find a better suggestion from them. But for now, we have to figure the rest of this case out, and that includes finding out what happened to Airi-chan's body.

As we near my house, we see a rather large crowd of neighbours. "What the…?" Hecadoth trails off.

Upon seeing them, I also feel slightly suspicious. In my gut, I feel a premonition of something bad that's about to come.

"What's going on over there?" Hecadoth asks.

I shrug. "I have no idea," I say. "Let's go there and find out."

We make our way to the crowd and I tap on one of the neighbours' shoulder, getting her attention. "What's happening?" I ask.

"You're Tanaka-san's daughter, right?" she asks.

I nod, and that's when I see Mom and Dad outside.

"Mom! Dad!" I call, getting their attention. "What happened here?"

Both Mom and Dad look rather serious. "Take a look," Mom says, pointing at the house.

I turn towards our house, but then my eyes widen in shock. Our house has been vandalized with large graffiti, reading: 'Know your place, Konketsuji'. As I read it, I feel a dread slowly building up within me. This is clearly a threat directed at me, and it's most likely because of what I know about Airi-chan.

"Wha… When did this happen?!" I ask, turning to Mom and Dad.

"We have no idea," Dad says. "I only saw this after work when I came home."

Hecadoth is also looking at the building in astonishment. "Who the hell did this?" he demands, looking rather furious.

"That's also what we don't know," Mom tells him. "We're just trying to calm everyone else down so that we can clean this up."

Eventually, once everyone leaves, Hecadoth and I help Mom and Dad in cleaning up the graffiti. However, this is still stuck in my mind, and it continues to trouble me for the rest of the evening. Did the others receive a threat like this as well? I'll have to find out tomorrow.

* * *

 _I look around in confusion. It's nighttime and I'm in front of the entrance of an older building. I recognize this to be the old St. Ishiyama school building, but what am I doing here?_

 _As if an invisible force is controlling me, I find myself walking into the building. It's dark and rather chilly inside, and it's quite clear that all the years of abandonment have started to wear down the interiors. I look around, feeling a slight shiver running through my spine. It's pretty creepy inside here._

 _Before I realize, I'm standing before a stone staircase that leads downstairs somewhere. Again, the invisible force makes me walk down the stairs, where I can sense a slightly damp smell. On the walls, I see the faint reflection of rippling water, which makes me raise my eyebrows in bemusement. What's going on?_

 _I soon find my answer when I reach the bottom of the stairs. This staircase leads to a stony room with a large rectangular pool in the centre. I realize that this is a cistern. I never realized that there was a cistern at the bottom of the old St. Ishiyama school building!_

 _Suddenly, I hear some footsteps, making me hide behind the wall near the doorway. Right then, I see two males step out from the shadows of the cistern. My eyes widen in shock as I stare at the male on the right. That guy… it's Mantha!_

 _He looks no different from when he had attacked us. In his arms is none other than the corpse of Shibuya Airi. On his right is another guy, a male student in the St. Ishiyama uniform, holding a coil of rope and some weights. Upon seeing him, I frown slightly. Who is that guy? I get the feeling that I've seen him before._

" _I told you that we should've disposed the body after you killed her!" the student tells Mantha in a pissed off voice._

" _It doesn't matter now," Mantha tells him, sneering slightly. "Once we've gotten rid of her body, no one will know that you were responsible."_

 _Mantha takes the rope and weights from the student and ties it around Airi-chan's corpse before attaching the weights to the rope. I watch in shock and horror as they gracelessly dump her body into the cistern. She falls in with a splash and does not resurface. As if she could. They attached weights and tied up her corpse! So this is where she was disposed of!_

 _But who the hell was that student? How did he know Mantha? In fact, what the hell is going on now?_

My eyes fly open and I look around me. I'm back in my room, in my bed. However, that dream really made me unnerved. I know I have to tell the others about this immediately, that Airi-chan's body was disposed of in a cistern. But will they believe me if I tell them I saw it in a dream? No. This is something that they all need to know.

"Yumi…?" Hecadoth's sleepy voice brings me out of my thoughts. I turn around to face him. Ever since that night, he's started sleeping next to me in my bed.

"S-Sorry…" I apologize, moving closer to him. "I just had a bizarre dream."

Hecadoth rubs my back before caressing my face. "Want to talk about it?" he asks.

I decide to tell him about it. I should tell at least one person about the dream.

"I… I saw where Airi-chan's body was disposed of," I tell him.

His eyes are momentarily confused and laced with sleep as he registers what I just said. And then, I see him become more serious.

"What do you mean?" he asks me.

"Mantha and some male student I'd never seen before… I saw them in my dream…" I explain. "They had taken Airi-chan's body to a cistern in the bottom of the old St. Ishiyama building. I saw them tie up her body and attach weights before dumping it into the pool."

Hecadoth looks at me in surprise. "Seriously?" he asks.

I nod. "Tomorrow after school, I want to get the others and show them this cistern," I tell him. "So can you tell Quetzalcoatl and Furuichi about this?"

He nods. "Of course."

As I try to go back to sleep in his arms, I can't help but feel anxious. We might be nearing the end of the mystery, but I'm still feeling rather nervous about this. Something is truly not right about it. What exactly it is, I don't know. But my intuition is telling me that there's something else that's going on.

* * *

The school day seems to go by so slowly, as I'm very anxious to show the cistern to everyone else. I told Izuma and Shizuka about the dream I had last night and they seem to believe me. In fact, the both of them are aware of the existence of the cistern in the old school building. According to them, the old school building used to be a convent a long time ago before it got turned into a school building, and the cistern was their main source of water. However, it's still being maintained to this day, much to my surprise. I wonder why it's being maintained.

Eventually, school finishes for the day and right now, I'm standing in front of the entrance of the current building, waiting for everyone else to come. Once everyone shows up, I tell them a little bit about where we're going.

"Hold on, Tanaka," Furuichi asks me as we walk to the old school building. "What exactly is so significant about the cistern in the old school building?"

I look down, wondering if they'd believe me. "In my dream last night, I saw Mantha with someone else in the cistern chamber, the both of them tying up and dumping Airi-chan's body into the pool," I tell him.

Hilda looks a little puzzled. "Why does the old school building have a cistern?" she asks.

"Long before it became a school building, it was a convent," Shizuka explains. "The cistern was the main source for water, and even after it became a school, it continued being maintained. In fact, it's still maintained today."

We walk into the building, trying to ignore the evening chill that's hanging in the air. Remembering my dream, I lead the way, walking to the staircase that leads to the chamber below. "It's this way," I tell them.

Hecadoth looks around the building. "This building seems like it's been well-preserved," he observes.

"It plays an important part in the history of St. Ishiyama," Izuma tells him. "That's why it's still standing."

Just like in my dream, the reflection of the gentle ripples from the pool dance against the wall. We finally reach the chamber. Once again, I'm surprised, but this time, it's because the pool is still very much filled with murky water, the reflection of its gentle rippling reflecting on the ceiling. "This is it," I say.

"You say that her body was dumped in the cistern pool?" Quetzalcoatl asks me.

I nod. "Yeah. But it'd be impossible to try and recover it from there," I tell them. "We don't know how deep that pool is and besides, her body's been in there for over twenty years. Who knows whether it's still there?"

"Also, we don't know what's in the water," Shizuka adds. "It could contain some toxic elements that could infect us."

Right then, Hecadoth turns to me. "You said that you saw Mantha and another male student, right? Do you know who the student was?" he asks me.

I shake my head. "I don't know," I admit. "I feel like I've seen him somewhere, but I just don't know where."

"Dah! Dabadah!" Right then, Baby Beel starts blabbering.

Oga glances at him. "Oi, Beel, what's wr-" That's when we sense it. The demonic energy.

A chilly breeze blows through the chamber and we hear a soft and eerie sigh echoing from the walls. We turn to the entrance and to our shock, it's Airi-chan's ghost. She stands in the entranceway, an unreadable expression on her face as she stares intensely.

"Shibuya… Airi…" Shizuka trails off, looking stunned.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

She ignores me and starts to walk towards the pool. Right then, when she stands before it, the water starts to ripple unnaturally.

"What the-?!" Furuichi says in surprise.

"She's trying to show us something!" Hilda realizes.

Sure enough, in the cistern pool is a vision of the fateful night from twenty years ago, so we all silently watch the scene play out. It displays the third floor hallway of St. Ishiyama, and we see Shibuya Airi walking down the empty halls. Suddenly, there's some sort of noise coming from one of the classrooms, causing her to stop and look to see what's going on.

Through a crack in the door, we notice the same older male student in the vision, his pants unbuttoned and his belt loose, and we can hear faint whimpers in the classroom. Immediately, the pieces fit together in my head as to what was happening in that room from the grunts and gasps that sound from there. Airi-chan opens the door a little bit more before staring in shock at the scene.

But then, the guy looks up and notices Airi-chan by the door, causing her to stiffen up.

"Dammit!" she curses under her breath as she turns to leave the area while footsteps slowly grow louder from the classroom. However, she's stopped when a hand grabs her wrist and the guy emerges from the classroom, looking quite pissed.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Shibuya?" he demands, his voice quiet yet unmistakably angry.

Airi-chan doesn't answer. She slowly backs away from him, trying her best to not look afraid. "What were _you_ doing?" she counters.

This only pisses the guy off even more. "Don't try and dodge the question," he snarls through gritted teeth. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"

Again, Airi-chan doesn't answer. By now, the guy is beyond pissed and he suddenly shoves Airi-chan into a wall. However, he pushes her with an unusually large amount of strength, which could've only come from a demon.

She collides into the wall and we hear a sickening thud as her head hits the surface. Her eyes glaze over and her mouth forms into a slight 'o' shape as she collapses to the ground, blood starting to drip down the side of her head.

The guy barely flinches, instead, only looking slightly irritated. "Che. I told you not to overdo it, Mantha," he scolds as we see a demon materializing next to him. Sure enough, it's none other than Mantha.

Rather than looking troubled, Mantha only smiles wryly. "My apologies, Kazushi-kun," he says, not sounding the least bit sorry. "I assumed you'd want to get rid of her before she says anything."

The guy, now known as Kazushi, just glances at Airi-chan's twitching and shivering body. The head injury has gotten worse, and there is more blood around the side of her head. "Well, what are we going to do?" he demands. "We can't just leave her here!"

Mantha simply pulls out a knife from his robes. "I'll take care of it." He walks up to her body and then, brings it down on her.

We watch in shock and disgust as Mantha starts to stab Airi-chan's body over and over again, the revolting sound ringing through our ears. So this is what happened that night. Airi-chan was dying of a head injury and he just mercilessly stabbed her over and over again. By the time he's done, her body is soaked in a pool of blood, and is no longer shivering. And then, the vision goes black.

Shizuka shakes her head in disbelief. "Oh my gosh…" she whispers.

"But who is that Kazushi guy?" I ask. "I have a feeling that we've seen him before."

Before anyone can say anything else, we see another vision appearing in the pool. Much to my surprise, it's the same dream that I had last night. However, we're able to get a better look at Mantha and Kazushi as they carry Airi-chan's corpse to the cistern.

"What are they doing?" Toujou asks.

"They're disposing of it," I recall.

We all watch as Mantha and Kazushi tie the ropes around Airi-chan's body before attaching weights to it. It's playing out almost exactly like the nightmare that I had last night.

"So, this happened shortly after the autopsy was done on Shibuya-san's body?" Hilda asks me.

I nod. "Yes," I say. "They stole her body and dumped it here to try and hinder the rest of the investigation."

Before anyone else can say any more, we hear Mantha speaking from the vision.

"There," he says, sounding triumphant. "No one will even suspect you, Satou Kazushi."

The vision fades away and the water is now still again. Oga looks confused. "Who is this guy?" he asks.

However, Izuma, Shizuka, and I look at each other in shock. This name… it can't be…

"What is it?" Quetzalcoatl asks upon noticing us. "Do you have any idea as to who this person may be?"

"We know this person, actually," Izuma tells him. "He's-"

Before he can say anything else, we're interrupted by Baby Beel. "Dah! Dabu! Dabu!" he panics.

Oga looks at him in surprise. "What's up?" But that's when we see it.

A strange gray mist starts to pour into the chamber, and the strange smell it has doesn't escape my notice. It's a sleeping gas!

"Let's get out of here!" Quetzalcoatl urges, covering his mouth. "Cover your noses and mouths, do not breathe it in!"

Like everyone else, I clap my hand over my mouth and nose to avoid breathing it in. However, the room is practically filled with the strange gas, and we cannot find the way out. _What the hell? We can't see a single thing!_

Unfortunately, I feel my legs growing weak as drowsiness and lethargy take over me. "No…" I whisper as my eyes grow heavy. It's not just me, though. Everyone else is starting to be overcome by the sleeping gas as they slowly fall to the ground, unconscious.

Eventually, I also collapse onto the ground. The last thing I see is a pair of feet within the fog. Then, everything goes black.


	14. Chapter 14

**This is the final chapter, and with that, this story is over. I apologize if it does not make much sense in the end, but I was very busy these past few days. I hope you enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.**

* * *

 **Chapter 14- Capture**

My eyes open as I regain consciousness, and I look around to see where the hell I am. It seems like we're in a completely different chamber, as I can't see the cistern pool anywhere.

"... What the…?" I mumble as I sit up. Looking around, I notice everyone else is on the floor, still unconscious. A tight and itchy feeling on my wrists catches my attention and I realize that my wrists have been bound. Same with everyone else.

It isn't long before I see Hilda stirring slightly. "Hilda!" I call her urgently as she wakes up.

She looks at me in surprise. "Tanaka?" she asks. "What's going on?"

I shake my head. "I have no idea, but we've been captured!" I tell her. "Remember what happened?"

She nods. "We were all overcome by some sleeping gas," she recalls.

Right then, we notice everyone else starting to wake up and try to make sense of where they are. "The hell is this place?" Oga demands as he sits up.

"Wh… Where are we…?" Furuichi asks, sounding slightly disoriented.

"Wait… what happened to the pool?" Toujou asks, confused.

Shizuka looks around. "What time is it?" she asks.

Hecadoth suddenly hushes us. "Someone's coming!" he says.

Sure enough, we hear footsteps coming towards the chamber we're in, and we all stop talking. As the footsteps grow louder, I feel a sense of apprehension and uneasiness in my gut. I have a strong feeling as to who it may be.

Right then, the footsteps enter the room and we look up. And when I do, my suspicions are confirmed. Standing before us is none other than…

"Satou Kazushi," Izuma says, his voice low and angry. "I knew it. You really were behind the death of Shibuya Airi-san. You were Mantha's contractor."

Satou simply purses his lips as he stares at us. As I look at him, I feel a sense of terror growing within me. I've always found him to be rather intimidating, but when I look at him now, he seems almost… sinister. Even though his face is expressionless, I feel as if he might just snap any minute, and I can't help but shiver in fear.

"It wasn't just her death," I cut in. "It was the deaths of Kamiya Yuu, Nojima Kumi, Saionji Tadashi, and Fukuda Kaori. You killed them so you could cover your ass."

"Shut up." The words are cold and harsh. Satou turns around to glare at us. "You know, the three of you should've listened to me when I said that there are some things in this world that you should not get involved in. This was one of them."

I narrow my eyes at him. "So… you also graffitied my house, I assume? And you sent Mantha after us in the library!" I hiss. "It was your way of trying to get us to give up the case!"

Rather than responding, he ignores me. Feeling even more agitated, I grit my teeth. "So… were you the one who was stalking both Shizuka and me as well?" I demand.

He lets out a slightly unhinged laugh, making me tense up. "You really are quite clever, aren't you?" he taunts. "It was to make you stay out of it, but you two were too stubborn to even take a hint." He then turns around and glares at me. "And you, Konketsuji… you killed Mantha."

I glare back at him. "He mind-raped both Hilda and I!" I snarl. "And you used him to kill not only Shibuya Airi, but Kamiya Yuu, Nojima Kumi, Saionji Tadashi, and Fukuda Kaori!"

"Because they decided to get involved in something that did not concern them at all," he retorts. "And since all of you have gotten involved in this, I have no other choice."

Furuichi looks up. "What are you going to do to us?" he asks.

Suddenly, we hear the sound of a gun cocking. To my horror, I see a hunting rifle in Satou's hands. "I think I'll shoot you all execution-style," he simply states. "And arrange it to look like a mass suicide." He then glances around at all of us. "Who should I start off with first?"

Right then, he aims the gun at Furuichi, much to Oga's distress. Immediately, Oga starts protesting. "You bastard!" he snarls. "Don't you dare!"

"Oga, stop!" Furuichi pleads with him. "Don't do this, you're only gonna piss him off!"

Before anyone can say anything more, we suddenly hear the sound of a megaphone starting. And then, we hear someone speaking.

"Satou Kazushi, this is the Ishiyama Police Department," a woman's voice rings out. I'm surprised that we can hear it from here.

"We know you're in there and you're holding some Ishiyama and St. Ishiyama students hostage. Come out right now."

Satou looks annoyed at this and makes his way to the exit of the chamber. "I'll be back. I just have to… take care of something." And with that, he leaves the room, locking the door behind him.

Once he's gone, I see Oga glaring at Furuichi. "Why'd you stop me?" he demands. "He was gonna kill you, that fucking bastard!"

I shake my head. "You saw what he was like," I recall. "He has a gun, and he might just kill you if you try to resist or if you piss him off too much. We need to come up with a plan."

Right then, we hear a snapping noise along with a grunt from Hecadoth, who's suddenly free from the ropes that bound him. "Che…" he mutters. "He thinks that merely tying it tightly will keep a demon in place? That fool…"

Likewise, Hilda also breaks the ropes around her wrists, and so does Quetzalcoatl. Once they're free, they help us untie the bindings, and that's when I suddenly wonder about something. "Wait… how do the police know that Satou is holding us hostage?" I ask.

Quetzalcoatl smiles slightly. "You see, we pillar demons have trackers in our coats that keep track of our whereabouts whenever we go on missions in the Demon World. Before coming to the Human World, we had them modified to keep track of our whereabouts in the Human World, just in case," he explains.

"That so?" Furuichi wonders. He then glances at the door. "How are we gonna get out? We can't make too much noise."

"I'll take care of this," Hilda says, removing a hairpin from her bun and picking the lock with it.

She manages to successfully open the door when we suddenly feel a chill in the room. At this point, it doesn't surprise me, even when Airi-chan's ghost comes into the room. And when I see her, I know I'm not scared anymore. In fact, her eyes don't look as malicious as they did when we first saw her. They seem a little bit calmer.

Furuichi approaches her. "Airi-chan," he says, sounding calm. "It's Satou Kazushi you want, right?"

She nods. "Bring him to me…" she whispers as she makes her way out of the room.

Furuichi nods slowly. "Y-Yeah…" He then turns to us. "We need to find a way to expose him."

"We also need to be careful," I add. "If we kill him, then we're looking at prison."

Oga and Furuichi grin. "Don't worry," Furuichi reassures us. "We have an idea."

* * *

While Oga and Furuichi go up to attract Satou's attention, the rest of us wait in the cistern chamber in hiding, so that we can ambush him when he comes down here. Meanwhile, Hilda and Quetzalcoatl are just outside of the chamber to make sure Oga and Furuichi are coming so that they can let us know.

"So, everyone remember the plan?" Hecadoth asks Izuma, Shizuka, Toujou, and I. "When he comes down, Izuma and I are going to come out. From behind, Nanami and Yumi are going to attack him and then Toujou will attack from his blind spot. Remember that, okay?"

We nod and go to our positions to hide. It isn't long before we hear three sets of footsteps running towards this direction. Once Hilda and Quetzalcoatl come down and let us know, we get ready as Oga, Baby Beel, and Furuichi run in. We then see Satou enter the chamber and look around. He looks very pissed off and his rifle seems at the ready.

Right then, Izuma and Hecadoth come out, both of them surrounded by demonic energy. As Satou heads towards them, Shizuka and I sneak up behind him. As Hecadoth gives us a subtle nod, Shizuka quickly plunges a small knife into his upper arm, causing him to let out a shout of pain.

As he keels over slightly, Toujou then ambushes and punches him in the face. We then corner him at the edge of the pool. He looks at us in disbelief, as if unable to understand how the hell we managed to escape and corner him.

"There's no use in trying to escape," Quetzalcoatl tells him. "Your actions were eventually bound to catch up to you."

"Airi-chan," I call, glaring down at Satou. "He's all yours."

For a moment, nothing happens. But then, Airi-chan's ghost emerges from the water and grabs Satou's arm. Her eyes glint with vengeance as she drags him down into the pool while he's struggling to break free. He falls into the water with a large splash and does not resurface.

As I step away from the pool, I feel my heartbeat slowing down to its regular pace. "Case closed, I guess," I say.

"Well then," Hilda adds. "Let's go."

We make our way out of the old school building and meet the officers out in the front. After explaining what happened to my dad, we all make our way home. However, as I get into my dad's cruiser, I suddenly see Airi-chan's ghost once more at the entrance of the old building. To my surprise, I see a faint smile cross her face before she slowly disappears from view.

I smile to myself. Shibuya Airi is finally at peace.


End file.
